Summer of June

he had the keys to the kindgom
in that old chevrolet
and that old gas station
where he worked every day
it was hotter than hell,
the brightest of moons
in the middle of august,
the summer of june

she was a dark beauty
right out of his dreams
down by the river
in those cutoff blue jeans
she was drinking a beer
and soaking up sun
and they hit the ground running
like a shot from a gun

He was the brightest among us
when he got the idea
for a quick in for money
there’s only one way round here
when we found out that night
he was just a falling star,

the way everyone tells it
is he just took it too far

she was a disastrous beauty
when she crashed in so hard
she crashed in the bar
and then she crashed in the car
he was still gone
when she pulled through the meds
of that dense dewy fog
of that hospital bed....

and she remembered the night
that they found out the news
the red river had dried up
and there were other clues
the doctor confirmed it
a girl would be along soon
it was the middle of august,
the summer of June

and she cried out, “goddamn you
for leaving me here
with this sweet thing all swaddled
i’m all alone here
we could have made it
with you fixing cars
coming home to your woman
and wishing on stars”

“he had the keys to the kingdom,”
the epitaph read
from the lips of a young girl
but no tears were shed
the girl on the gravesite
holding two red balloons
about twenty years after
the summer of June

from - "Love Tigers"