Joe Hawley
Rotary Park
[Verse 1]
Rotary Park is safe after dark
Neighbors off porches, the playground is stark
Wine stain'd a vacant old basketball court
Dwellings surround a municipal fort
Don’t mind the stories of triumphs and glories
Rotary Park is the jam after dark

[Chorus]
Be, leave and decide, stay and be blind
Easy to claim when you’ve places to find
We nearly died, be that inside
Grinding the gears of all tides

[Verse 2/Chorus]
Rotary Park is at peace after dark
Chief Pontiac stamped his name on the markMystery buried in flat dominos
Twilight atuned to a creeping reposeBe, leave and decide, stay and be blind
Easy to claim when you've places to—Don’t mind the lion hid dreaming of Zion
Rotary Park is ablaze after dark

[Verse 3]
Rotary Park is swell after dark
Coveting woes in bureaucracy throesTrials by pairings with blood on the psyche
Victory airings not sponsored by Nike
Purple potato-faced comrade ascends
Vultures encircle abandoned amendsBe, leave and decide, stay and be blind
Easy to claim when you've places to find
We nearly died, be that inside
Grinding the gears of all tides[Bridge]
This morning I woke from a nightmare and fell out of bed
and Lo! the ghost of a man ages thought to be dead
A smile and a ribbon he wore with a dutiful pose
A wink, a prick from the thorn of that beautiful rose
[Outro]
Rotary Park is a gas before dusk
Don’t mind the four savage young horsemen of musk