A CASKET AND A ROSE 121211 - STRICKEN

James Michael Taylor

A CASKET AND A ROSE
capo @ 2 Am

There’s nothing quite as slow to grow
Than a cherry laurel tree
A fingerling that grows beneath
That old oak canopy
Presented as a volunteer
On that creek bank south of town
One hundred yards from our back door
That water hole I hang around
I lie and stare up at the noose
That dangles from the oak
And all I want here, without you
Is a casket and a rose
When Joseph died, my parents broke
It left them without strength
I couldn’t bare to let them down
Another fatal link
So, I put my destiny on hold
A sober son I’d be
And watch that cherry laurel grow
Into a cherry tree
I’d lie and stare up at the noose
That dangled from oak
And all I want here without you
Is a casket and a rose
Bruise the bark and you can tell
The cherry laurel got it’s name
Without the fruit but it will smell the same
I dreamed again this morning
You, naked on our bed
The one that’s not been slept in
Since you left me unwed
And who can know a lover’s heart
It’s fabric and it’s woof
I think of her as just an orb
That tumbled off the roof
I lie and stare up at the noose
That dangles from the oak
And all I want here without you
Is a casket and a rose…

(C) 2011 Royal T Music