Poets bleed black, red heart on grey paper Trying to fit jagged edges together Sandpaper hands run over tectonic fractures Overlaying continents with soiled fingers Causing ripples in time That will take up eons to still The angel of death is among us Spreading like plague Azrael will guide you to the gates There you must journey alone It is not the hand of God, nor is it his fight Herald the dawn That the light of life may come to you Here angels pour out their vials upon the seas Turning tears of earth, to blood of soil Trumpets have not yet sounded They will ring like a great shriek of birds Calling up famine, and pestilence of man Your skin will rise on the back of your neck Running sweat rivers down your spine Worming its way into the clench of your jaw Seraphim crowd the throne, Cherubim at the stairs Are you afraid, fear not, I am always with you Here in the valley, flowing with milk and honey Your seal is upon me Protection seared into my flesh My forehead burns No affliction may fall upon me, at what cost Man's coin, man's folly A shadow on the earth Through the corner of my right eye I see the reaper clothed in black His scythe reflecting moonlight The hourglass hung by his belt holds no sand Here are the souls Passing through, time is liquid Dripping through us back into soil Tangible gravity, are you afraid Before the throne, drawn to your knees You will rise, no lesser, no greater, only mute Walk among the living, but without their voice The scroll will open like the wings of an eagle Heaven's choir filled with the sound of angels Do not be afraid, lift your hands Your palms bind themselves with the book of ages Commandments set in the stone of your palms Dried under the light of a dying sun Written rivers up your wrists Your eye in your forehead is open Spirit shining through, this is light in the dark The way of priests Speak not and you will know I am the raw work of your words Newborn beneath heavens and angels Hold no fear, in the matter between your ears I am with you always even to the ends of the earth