Page 33

By Jack Joseph Smith

One More Truth It didn't mean a damn when we said it All that space out there for two to do There is no last dance and temptation, will never reach an end Don't go down or those who mistake you. All souls see the same when their done Do you fall in the weeds and fire a rifle As you have bent or a wooden floor against (THE shadow) of a brass bed asking for forgiveness Lord have us make a table, that will not be broken by a fist; is the only thing Anyone should want Ah: hug and the tumbleweed, Turning two dots and a line Don't ever let your trouble go away; From the first time, something was true

Original Scan

AI Interpretation

GPT

Space, temptation, rifles, forgiveness, tumbleweed, and revised language collapse into a hard prayer against being mistaken.

The page moves between vow, temptation, violent image, forgiveness, and a fragile table that should not be broken by force. The source readings or those, bent or a wooden floor, and of a brass bed keep the phrasing more jagged, while the handwritten revisions make the poem feel actively argued with around shadow, wanting, Turning, and trouble.

Claude

Rifles, tumbleweed, and forgiveness converge in a prayer that feels western in geography but biblical in urgency. The fear of being mistaken drives the entire plea.