I see memories like pictures, snaps and flashes
Captured images plastered to the walls of my brain
Gotta strain sometimes through my dust covered mind
But it's one of these times that's inspired this rhyme - flash
I'm 12 or maybe 11
My little brother Travis is just 6 or 7
I see my older brother Kirk, Trav, my Dad and me
All hiking up this peek through a creek
See I'm from the East, where it's covered with trees and leaves
And between branches are hidden many mountainous streams
I feel the breeze on my face from that mountain
I see us hiking round the river it has flowing straight down it
It carved the boulders til they molded around it
And the waterfalls sprayed off like upside fountains
3 stories each and them shits were steep
And the algae made'em slick
You slide off like Weirs' beach
If you dare walk a top that rock with bare feet
And then - flash
"Oh shit grab Travis!"
But he's just out of reach
And he slipped...
I never could have caught him or stopped the fall
And even if I could, I don't know if I'd had the balls
Here's my little kid brother sliding right for the drop
15 foot down smack onto the rocks
Then flash - to slow motion
Flash - the image stops
Then flash of pale skin, here comes Pops
Snatches Travis up by the back of both arms
Tosses to him the shore
And then headfirst - flash - gone...
Slip
Now that cold river water is pretty as hell
But it sure don't break a fall so well
He fell straight down, smashing off the jagged granite
Bashed his head and his legs before his body landed
4 inch puddle with a rocky splash
He's lying all gashed up in a crumpled mass
And now everything is flashes
I'm looking in his face
Dazed, confused, shock I never see him this way
I see my Pop's he's bloody
Eyes buggy
Seeing fuzzy
His expression is blank a skewed and funny
And now I'm running and I'm holding up his shoulders
I'm wishing I could carry more, wishing I was older
Doing everything I can to keep him up
Swatting horse flies from his head
They came out for the blood
I wish I could grasp all the pictures from this trip
But the older I get the more the memories slip...
Slip
Bashed but not broken he's a tough old bastard
Said he vaulted off them rocks like he was back in gymnastics
And the doctor said he's lucky, fact is if he hadn't
Fall like that would have definitely killed Travis
He passed a test for his sons I guess
We watched Pop jump first, no concern for nets
He squashed any second guessing in a split second
Made sense of conversations that had left us disconnected
Without a lot of time for wrong or right
He flashed his true colors
And i captured them bright
I try to live that way and remember the sight
Pops of the Falls
Bravest thing I seen in my life.