You are a soulless cage Candles burning out Timber fingers grasping At a bleak unforgiving sky You wander to the dark place Unable to illuminate There were angels here once "Fear not" "Do not be afraid" Carved into the bark Does anxiety always come before truth Existential agony before God's bidding If so, I am ripe, I am waiting Prune my tree of life branches back If I am not wick then I am wicked I am shame bathed in myrrh Did not former trunks Hold the great burden of salvation Is the cross before or behind My lingering grave Beckons for me I do not fear the earth Only where the mind goes When the body cannot follow What armies could kindness muster To war against the unknown Crucify yourself against me The nails in my hands Filter the light in I am fighting a losing cause A thousand fall to my side Ten thousand at my right hand Who will bury the dead I thought only the roots of trees belonged buried Yet coffins slip into soil Sins under a night sky