Jump

Jump (Van Halen 1984) 11/4

I ain’t the worst that you’ve seen

I’m holding this sparrow I snapped its wing like twigs it didn’t cry out the way I thought it would and there isn’t any blood anywhere but in my body and in its body

You’ve got to roll with the punches to get to what’s real

There are these dancers in India the Kathakali it’s all hands cutting through the story all body and heat applied to the surface of air

If I jump three times and scream in gibberish

I ain’t the worst that you’ve seen

There’s no way I could cut apart this room in the time you’ve given me

This broken sparrow is a transplant like me it hid on ships like rats or in cages in the hair of British royalty it came over the ocean carried not on air but on water

You’ve got to roll with the punches to get to what’s real

If I flap on the floor in the dirt if I end up covered in soot what of it if I leap out a second story window and land on my feet

On Broadway the other day there were fires and a building allowed itself to let go its roof

I ain’t the worst that you’ve seen

There are plenty of things I’ve done plenty and I count them like beads on necklaces strewn about like fictions like stones I will hold up a feather from this bird and I will allow it to fall to the floor

You’ve got to roll with the punches to get to what’s real

This is a fit I am flailing against the wall and suddenly I can’t tell if I’m standing upright or not anymore my face is bright red with white streaks and that means I am a devil

If I let this all go to pieces and just drop it here on the floor on the head of whomever

I ain’t the worst that you’ve seen

You’ve got to roll with the punches to get to what’s real