“Prelude IA” with “Des Moines”

“Prelude IA”

I’m not asking for your life, soul, or money
So don’t you fret.
No ideas,
Not a chance,
Not even your regret.
2 moments and a glance,
For 50 cents or cigarette.

“Des Moines”

Road of fault,
From the fields of opportunity,
And a dark river bridge.
A place that you always knew,
Yet somehow never been.
Roll on in,
With pennies to the tank.
Not answering why,
Because no one asked to wait.
Everything that starts at an end,
Welcomes a nightmare.
Cold city streets,
Your back to the dirt.
Sickest of days,
Stop with coldest of nights.
Pick up the small things
That still bare your name
Leave the saddest of friends,
Alone in the mirror.
Finding the truth,
That what was, there was with you.
Symbol for the empty,
The heartless,
The scars.
No one here to hear your screams,
And cuts that never heal.
The town that stays with you,
Two weeks or a day.
The Iowa dust,
That won’t blow away.