The river is polluted
The skies are grey in falling night
The stars are hidden from our sight
Constellations convoluted

Bilge water and bile
Corrupted hearts so vile
Defile of a sacred form
This is not divine
Only desecration

The river is polluted
The seeds we plant do not survive
And even life is doomed to die
The trees are all uprooted

          We want the leaves
          We want the flowers
          We want the scent of the forest

The river is polluted
Our dismay is all man-made
Unwholesome branch that holds no shade
Our hope for shelter all eluted

Brackish is the water
Swim if you care to drown
We take giant gulps
Deluded with hope
And still we die of thirst

According to the gospel
As the lord and savior traversed the holy land
Preaching the word and showing the light
Speaking with god and devil alike
Speaking love to mankind
It is said
He would find the sick
The suffering of infirmity
He would lay his hands to their skin
And heal them
He would heal them
According to the gospel

My days are long
And I have bruises that don't show on my flesh
Impracticalities that should cause mental maladies
That would help me find the self destruction I fear
And that I fear awaits me
I'm tired when I wake up
And dead through the day
But I feel alive
Every time I put my words to the page
I feel a sage
Whose wisdom is generational
I feel hope

I may be sick
Maybe
I may be a lost and tortured soul unfit to exist
In this existence
Maybe
I may feel pain
I may
And the only disease I know is the brutality of life
Maybe

Poetry heals me
It is the hands in the desert
On the ***** in the cave
It is the words as rain to feed the seed
It is the sprout of a flower
And the bloom
It is my reason
And my religion

It is my gospel

And when the angels sing
If no one else can hear but I can
I'll know of peace
In a world of disarray

Do you ask yourself sometimes?
What it is and what will be?
Who we are
Trains may arrive in stations
The hands on the clock
Our fingers
But our hands have never been pure
Who we are

How it feels
To feel
How it feels to feel just the way you do

Don't you want love and silver and gold?
What is truth and how we seek
Who we are
Clocks always strike the minute
But our hands toil with the devils work
Our faces never stay the same
Marching forward
Who we are

And how it feels
To feel
For you
Time doesn't give a reason

I understand her beautifully
And I understand her tragedy
In a world that can't be saved
I'm saving her
As she's saving me,

And even her silence
Speaks everything
And even my silence
Says more

I'm afraid
That I don't need her skin
That I may breathe without her breath
I'm afraid
I don't need her love
When she's all I ever need

She understands me cosmically
She reads all of my stars
In a world that's only death
We live together
Or not,

And even her silence
Screams at me
And my silence
Is a pleading voice

The ghost that I'll become
Is covered in scars
Skin is skin and without skin
The ghost that I'll become
Is covered in scars
From the times before
I can't forgive myself
I don't expect you'll forgive me
As my bones and hands
Break in this world
And every scar
Is a mark upon my soul
I don't have to live forever
To never forget
I'm dying now
And bringing it with me

I've forgotten how she feels under my hands
The way glorious music came forth as my fingers touched her neck
I held her in my lap and every note was right
She spoke to me so beautifully

The shape of her body
The way my voice danced around her
A song I had to sing
And I was happy

I haven't felt her in forever
But I still listen
Maybe such dulcet notes alive
Still strive to grace my life

Maybe life is not a game
But I play
And I'll play

I've forget the way frets make me lose all worry
I can hold her in such a way that makes a meaningful chord
Finding balance in her scales
And knowing harmony

The shape of her body
The sound of love and loss
A song I have to sing
And I'll know peace

Maybe life is just music
But I play
And I'll play