Hotter Than Hell

Dog days of August and a run of double shifts

Burning heat from the kitchen a nodding fan could never lift

My hair curled like heat waves from the hood of that truck

We found a dirt road to leave a cloud of our dust

And we’d haul far as we could

Way back in the mountains, black cherry wood

Hotter than hell your heart in my hand

The thunder of blood drumming through the land

My body the land

Threw a blanket down in the high grass kicking apples at our feet

More fruit bruised and honeyed than a man could ever eat

Bees buzzed around us in the dizzy hum of summer

Hunting through the lines of trees for one lost lover 

I can recall where we stood

Way back in the mountains, black cherry wood

Hotter than hell your heart in my hand

The thunder of blood drumming through the land

My body the land

In the shade of a sugar maple my head heavy on your chest

Prying wind pushed up leaves with the rising of your breath

The sky turned electric with a crash of sober rain 

And the cold that comes after the fever breaks

Years flash by faster than you think they will

The sweat on your neck I can taste it still

When the thunder echoes off those distant hills

Where we stood way back in the mountains

Black cherry woods

Hotter than hell your heart in my hands

The thunder of blood drumming through the land

My body the land