José Tries to Leave - Bambara

Night’s changing

Spiders seem to levitate in headlights

While deer hide dumb in the bushes

And three snakes hang from the branches of a small tree

In front of her house where he’s climbing out of her room

José looks back through the window

She’s tangled up in the sheets and she’s smiling sweet

Talking softly in her sleep

He hops down to the driveway

Stumbles to his car parked down the street

And he turns the key

The church looms on the horizon

Like the dried up husk of some ancient bug

Legs scratching at the rising sun

Inside he gathers his things

‘Round the scattered bodies of his passed out friends

In a drunken spin

Jimmy yawns and says, «Hey, what’s goin' on?»

«Shadows just seem darker these days,» says José

«Anyway, I’m gonna catch a train»

José waits by the tracks

Sunrise puts a squint in his eyes

And it seems like there’s

So many little creatures scurrying around that he can’t see

The train comes and he starts running

He jumps for it and he slips

She wakes up and she sees he’s gone

Just like she expected

But she hoped she’d be wrong

Thought this morning

She could try it on top

«Never get old where you were young,»

He said while she was nodding off

He’s kind of strange she thinks

Yeah but so is love

The kids in the church start to stir

As light pours in through the holes in the walls

Wondering if José is gone

«No one ever really leaves,»

Jimmy says through a cloud of smoke

«Where would he go anyway?»

The sun is up and the birds are pecking

Pecking at something lying in the dirt