Lantern

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John Cash's Lantern

When I saw him singing
I Walk The Line on stage
in that northern prairie town
I was just a boy and my eyes
in fascination were locked to that scar
imagining the fight he suffered it in
broken bottle cutting him before
he connected with roundhouse right
and the other man went down

Or maybe a woman cut him
after he'd let her down
and he had to carry that scar
everywhere he went
answering questions until
the questions bored him
and he made up a new answer
in every town he played

His voice had none of the
singsong lilt of the others
it was a lantern
too heavy to swing around
so he let its iron weight talk
made sure the little light
waving from the center
never went dark

Toward the end he sang
I Still Miss Someone
and my uncle, who took me
buckled when John sang
when all the love was there
and I realized there were
other kinds of scars
you can't see

In his later years
there was rust on that lantern
that brought a tenderness
we already knew by the songs
now present in the voice
it made you stand up and listen
tell friends about his return

When June left him
we knew the wick
of the lantern's flame
got snipped shorter still
for love keeps us living
and June's love
was a primal force
and without her eyes
his loneliness would harden

And did, and John died
and tonight is darker than before
iron lantern heavier still
rust flaking in the wind
as we raise it up
from where it fell

Tonight that lantern
is ours
to light and lift
however heavy
to protect its flame
from rain and wind
our one gift back
in the deepening night

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