Coastal Starlight

Coastal starlight
rolling alright
through the moonlight
Past the cedar trees

Puget sound
in the distance
beaches covered with
weathered dreams

Sammamish crescent
Chuckanut parkway
bottle of klickitat red

one long toke now
on the back bench
as we pull through
the darkened hill

drifting nicely
and watching closely
white volcanos
up ahead

i've read about
all these mountains
in books by snyder,
old smoke blanchard
and poor dead jean

Riprap pathways
Adams gleaming
in distant
haze up'head

Junipers and scrub oak
give way to spruce
and river camps
where explorers lay

Ahh Cascadian byways
Coastal starlight
With bottle of beside me
of Klickatat red

I've watched the junipers
give way to cedars
and seen the volcanos
fade away

If there no mudslides
or strange derailments
soon i'll be
back home in bed

I stopped in Portland
for the Crystal Ballroom
and in Centralia
for some beer

Left Olympia
far behind me
and Fairhaven's
just getting near

I'll trust that
you'll be waiting
at the grey station
terminal at main

Engine running
three in th'morning
take me home
i won't complain

terminal city
gets a bit sketchy
and i'd rather
not get robbed

i am worn now
but feeling happy
waiting in stations
and railing lines

i've not forgotten
the columbia gorge
at those moments
just a'fore sunset time