Hope

Shadowlands of my mind wash my cells one by one

cleansing

Every respiring nucleus

darkening

Every abysmal pore of inner plasm

Into a gray and pulsating brethren of life, united at the core by

A muscle full of love, full of hope, full of faith, full of truth

Truth I give, truth I expect from those souls I tend to meet in the wake of my path here on this

Rancid, aching world I was born into;

Souls in pain, souls exhausted, souls lost, and souls reckless

Souls who think they can go on day by day

With their eyes shut to the beauty we all know lives somewhere up there

Above our evil, far from our wreckage, detached from our mortality

Eyes closed

Eyes blinded

Hearts empty from

wars wars wars

Hands beaten from

work work work

Lungs blackened from

smoke smoke smoke

Voices faded from

screams screams screams

Eyes closed

Eyes blinded

(As if we had a choice)

_____

12-April-99