Sentence unfinished
Chord unresolved
Martyr mistaken
Wretch unabsolved
Protest kept secret
Pain held inside
Question unanswered
Blessing denied
Now that I have become
A red giant in blazing autumn
The time is near, will I be recognized
Before I am blamed and ostracized?
The gravity of it presses me to earth
I want to lay me down in heavy surrender
For at the core, I am still Much-Afraid
Only justice can restore me to splendor
So here’s to hoping
Here’s to reading between the lines
Here’s to searching
For any possible signs
Of cosmic justice
Through every lesson marked by scars
In vain, for there is only justice
In the stars ...
Darkening sky
Sun and moon exchange a passing glance
Thoughts asunder, twinkling fires as they fly
Catch them all
Gather up into a soul jar
They light the way and clarify ...
An open road
My chance at last
To rise above
But I’m falling fast
Still I will say nothing and run free
Until the scars no longer disfigure me
Safe in my head
Protective bubble, thin cocoon of hope
A room of one’s own brings the wolf right to my door
Who’s afraid?
It’s only blind anticipation
A signal sent to something more ...
An open road
My chance at last
To rise above
But I’m falling fast
Still I will say nothing and run free
Until the cards reveal my place to be
Slowly it dawns
The sharpest blade would never hurt me now
I feel the earth tilt, and I laugh at fading stars
The world still spins
So build a loop and throw me in
It’s worth the journey and the scars ...
An open road
My chance at last
To rise above
But I’m falling fast
Still I will say nothing and run free
Until the gods decide to favor me
Until the cards reveal my place to be
Until the scars no longer disfigure me
Common sense would tell us
To share and share alike
But now the iron’s hot as hell
I say it’s time to strike
I sought to ask one question:
Have once again I failed?
What must I do to qualify,
My efforts to avail?
She told me scorch
Clear the damage with a torch
Raze it to the ground and start it all again
Drive out all impurities
Purging flame will set you free
Rise from the scree and face down what’s within
Go forth and scorch
For don’t you know that if you strike
An iron that’s still hot
Then it won’t even matter
If you qualify or not
I posed another question:
How can I sustain the burn?
How can I keep on going
With blind corners every turn?
She told me scorch
Clear the damage with a torch
Raze it to the ground and start it all again
Drive out all impurities
Purging flame will set you free
Rise from the scree and face down what’s within
Go forth and scorch
I had a final question
(The darkest of my fears):
Can it truly break the curse
That I’ve borne so many years?
No more the sword of Damocles
Will hang above your head
A lion’s heart, a steady hand
Will be your lot instead
She told me scorch
Clear the damage with a torch
Raze it to the ground and start it all again
Drive out all impurities
Purging flame will set you free
Rise from the scree and face down what’s within
Go forth and scorch
Welcome to my prison ball
It’s a cutting edge-hop sideswipe swing
This is why the will survives
This is why the caged bird sings
It’s a cobra-mongoose war of wills
Haunches kick and feelings fly
The goddess of the sidelong glance
Makes it harder to pass by
Oh, we take part of this masquerade
To keep the scorecard even
While messiahs and mistresses
All die for what they believe in
Formal speech and smart decorum
Make us appear much stronger
With formal gowns and feathered masks
From birds that fly no longer
Drama entertains us well
The king strives to complete the task
He’s having the most fun of all
With no eyeholes in his mask
The fool is far more dangerous
Your limits he will put to test
That’s really not his sentiment
After all, he’s just in jest
Oh, the band plays on and never dances
But the music always varies
Sometimes the song of a chain gang
Or a flock of caged canaries
The mask remains tied tightly on
To hide a flaw much bigger
The tear and groan of flesh and bone
From a scar that leaves me disfigured
Welcome to my prison ball ...
Standing on a frozen lake
Gotta make your way somehow
You don’t know how you got here
Too late to turn back now
It’s the risk all people take
Temporary paradise
But nothing golden stays
Now the world is snow and ice
Snow and ice … snow and ice …
Don’t ever get too comfortable
For your senses are confined
One foot, then the other
Watch your step, don’t look behind
Don’t want a grand adventure
Don’t want to pay the price
True colors never shine through
In a world of snow and ice
Snow and ice … snow and ice …
A tender ray of sunshine
Cracks the ice beneath your feet
Somehow this winter wonderland
No longer seems so sweet
So tired of this existence
Every step must be precise
Is survival really worth it?
Must a life be snow and ice?
Snow and ice … snow and ice …
I will cut off tender weakness
And the heat I radiate
I won’t light a single candle
As a way to insulate
No more will flow the wellspring
It will harden to my fate
Survival of the coldest-hearted
I will cloak myself in hate
Can’t tell how think the surface
Can’t predict the dice
Wanna just lie down and go to sleep
Amid the snow and ice ...
Snow and ice … snow and ice …
Each revolution brings a turn in the road
It travels right back to the start
We evolve, then return to primordial grace
As the blood must return to the heart
We know it will happen, we just don’t know when
From longing, to triumph, to shame, and back again
Perpetual spiral, we see where we’ve been
And we spin …
In each life we evolve, or we die many times
From ashes we rise, or from grace we may fall
Just a small drop of rain on a cyclical path
Only one pair of eyes sees it all
Every man to the earth, and the earth to his kin
Turn on a torque of salvation and sin
Angels dance round on the head of a pin
And we spin …
The eternal wheel spins us in forward motion
From the first stone cast to the finalized notion
We meet ourselves with doglike devotion
Catch fleeting tail in the teeth of emotion
The swell of the moon, or the flow of the tide
The blood trickles down, or the kick from inside
The land is a pulse, and the rhythm our guide
It connects all the elements by which we abide
Mestizo hymns or evangelist brimstone
In a spiral of smoke, they ascend
What goes around comes around, that’s what we fear
Karma that some just amend
We know it will happen, we just don’t know when
From longing, to triumph, to shame, and back again
Perpetual spiral, we see where we’ve been
And we spin …
Every man to the earth, and the earth to his kin
Turn on a torque of salvation and sin
Angels dance round on the head of a pin
And we spin …
With twilight descending, and slumber you find
And I am certain that I have safely passed from your mind
Only then can I serenade you, unconfined
In the secrecy of my heart
Do you shine bright as always, as in sagas of old?
Do you still sing with four voices or breathe hot and cold?
Do you nurture my memory, or yet still behold
Another creature of some world apart?
And how can a blind man steer by the stars
And how can a poor man find power?
How can a dead man rise from his grave
And how can I find hope in this hour?
I desired no promise, only your company
And I flourished in your presence most wholeheartedly
Though I still would rejoin you, I face reality
It entraps me from dusk until dawn
Now, we all take our chances on what we regain
But only fools would rush in where an angel’s been slain
And the sound of four voices, they still call my name
Even though your presence is gone
And how can a blind man steer by the stars
And how can a poor man find power?
How can a dead man rise from his grave
And how can I find hope in this hour?
Free from all envy, and free from all pride
I marveled at your joy as I walked by your side
And I wish not to taint you with the aspects I hide
Of my past, my thoughts, and my fears
When time finally tempers this heart sick and sore
And your eyes no longer dance in my dreams anymore
I will still sing your praises for a time long before
I was blinded by so many tears
And how can a blind man steer by the stars
And how can a poor man find power?
How can a dead man rise from his grave
And how can I find hope in this hour?
I’m a hardened weather watcher
But I’m no tornado chaser
I predict what I can’t control
I don’t respect what I fear
I stare straight into the core
Of that torrential heart of darkness
And once it’s cold and calculating
Then it’s time to disappear
I see black widows hatching
I see scorpions with their young
I must kill them with kindness
Before they kill me first in kind
I try remaining in control
Through this anarchistic temperament
If fury sounds the same way twice
I can gain soundness of mind
The pale eye of the storm
Is a halcyon self-centeredness
But all within its radius
Is flung so far and wide
When I refuse to hand my power
To the bitter wind surrounding
Do I sense some faint hostility
Or does it darken still inside?
Two loving spoonfuls in my cup
Get me going in the morning
Add some cream and stir it right
Sugar rush hits me without warning
Sweet lovin’ sugar cane
Got no reservation
Time to harvest that bumper crop
And I need no persuasion
Take it raw or take it refined
But accept no substitution
Take your sins straight to the source
In the field you’ll find absolution
Sweet lovin’ sugar cane
Got no reservation
Some call in the little death
Some call it elation
Takin’ it like a remedy
Agony like a cavity
A savory ferocity
Purgin’ the fields with flame
Rushin’ so exuberant
Crashin’ indeterminate
This rant and cant no different
Than somebody raising cane
You were begotten by sugar, mellifluous man
Before they can consume you, run
Run away as fast as you can
I will rescue you from their gustatory needs
Just hop on my back with succulent speed
And we’ll cross the river, far from their greed
Come closer, I would never mislead
Behold, across the water, the tall waves of cane
The primordial substance from which you came
Now prepare to meet your maker
And no, I ain’t no baker
Sweet lovin’ sugar cane
Got no reservation
And all my friends are asking
Where I got these strange abrasions
Sweet lovin’ sugar cane
Got no reservation
The stalk is fine and in its prime
To heighten the sensation
Take your sins straight to the source
And sweeten to taste!
And sweeten to taste!
And sweeten to taste...
Sugar!
When the weeping willow grants you a place to grieve your loss
When the fire-crested healer sees your bones of shame
When the lowly worm turns silent in a pod of introspection
It’s then you’ll find a voice to reclaim
The weeping willow once lay choking with a deadly
blight
And the fire-crested healer once lay frozen in the snow
You, too, will overcome, though your journey will be hard
And you must take some fire when you go
Celebrate your anger, and be baptized in your tears
For a wisdom lives within you, as only you can know
Prepare yourself for battle, and your flight into the storm
And you must take some fire when you go
When a thousand fallen heroes turn against you in the dark
And your guardian angels here on earth turn a deaf ear towards your cries
When you perform great miracles that no one seems to see
And your good intentions fall by the wayside
Mongrels and Misfits Page 7