pitch

[bleurant]

she follows the survivors
of her careful machinations
folding splendor into sorrow
as she practices her paces
swerving slightly to avoid
any purposeful collisions
a smile is all she answers
to your well deserved derision
pull the hammer back and aim
for the pigeons that she tosses
she’ll measure all her gains
against your unsuspecting losses
will you ever seem to name
the place you have forgotten
let us slip into the night
and drink the nectar that nearly rotted
and hope is just a thing
that flew before you caged her
and grace is just a name
that you spoke before she named you
even when you have remained
when the force you claimed blew by you
no one ever seems to claim
the pieces that they stole
from the box you hid so carefully
in a closet that swung open
is there something you’re not telling me
we’ve got little time
for what remains unspoken,
what remains unspoken,
what remains unspoken,
what remains unspoken……

so take me to the river
wrap my body up in bandages
a prayer is just a sliver
that you pry between my phalanges
if I offer up my sores
for a prophet’s admonition
could you paint a dervish dance
from my empty premonitions
sometimes all a sinner needs
is a wilderness to swallow
what cannot be explained
beneath a drum beat thin and hollow
I will never see the faces
of accusers that did not bother
to ask me how it felt
to break a man who hurt my brother
and if a burning bush could speak
beyond generations farther
I will take a shepherds’ staff
and disregard the chatter
of anyone who spoke
a word to bench my honor
gather all your gilded armies
I will walk alone
inside your fear unbroken,
inside your fear unbroken,
inside your fear unbroken…

take me to a sandy bar,
bandage me and walk away,
just walk away,
just walk away,
please walk away,
so you walk away,
you walk away,
you walk away
now walk away…..