Road From Perdition
So is the starlight
Enough
to keep us sane
when so much of what we are
is so ready to implode
For the dust we are
is the dust we breathe
between these criminal structures
(our feet frantically move us
through the plastic days
permeated by my pitifully plastic
words)
I have tried
to be something
of indestructible worth
to weave meaning and compassion
into my mind
and bind my soul
to beauty's breast
to live forcefully
with understanding
and a strong determination
and something that resembles
justice
to evolve past
this
(come down now
lay your weary head to rest
take a breath
with reconciliation's skin
laying against yours
to keep you warm
with watchful eyes
and freedom's care)
and yet
I
have faltered
I have broken myself
on the cracks in the pavement
and my own inadequacy
as a member of a species
prone to fault
and buried
beneath its own imperfection
(I have transgressed
and been stained by guilt
in the darkness
I have grappled
with Regret and Death
and found a fatigued renaissance
after these endless miles)
But you can come
and tear me seam from seam
as I stare off into space
vacantly swimming through
my thoughts
emotionlessly contemplating
each remaining breath
blessing each weakness
and drowning what I can not change
in the beautiful seconds
that have so swiftly
passed by
All that we are
is a piquant palliation
a little drop
of obdurate obstinacy
in the ocean's turbulence
(I will not
lose
my humanity
I will rise
each time
I fall,
and yet
there are many,
too many
that I leave behind)
Enough
to keep us sane
when so much of what we are
is so ready to implode
For the dust we are
is the dust we breathe
between these criminal structures
(our feet frantically move us
through the plastic days
permeated by my pitifully plastic
words)
I have tried
to be something
of indestructible worth
to weave meaning and compassion
into my mind
and bind my soul
to beauty's breast
to live forcefully
with understanding
and a strong determination
and something that resembles
justice
to evolve past
this
(come down now
lay your weary head to rest
take a breath
with reconciliation's skin
laying against yours
to keep you warm
with watchful eyes
and freedom's care)
and yet
I
have faltered
I have broken myself
on the cracks in the pavement
and my own inadequacy
as a member of a species
prone to fault
and buried
beneath its own imperfection
(I have transgressed
and been stained by guilt
in the darkness
I have grappled
with Regret and Death
and found a fatigued renaissance
after these endless miles)
But you can come
and tear me seam from seam
as I stare off into space
vacantly swimming through
my thoughts
emotionlessly contemplating
each remaining breath
blessing each weakness
and drowning what I can not change
in the beautiful seconds
that have so swiftly
passed by
All that we are
is a piquant palliation
a little drop
of obdurate obstinacy
in the ocean's turbulence
(I will not
lose
my humanity
I will rise
each time
I fall,
and yet
there are many,
too many
that I leave behind)