The New Song

The answers deceive
The questions stand
The dancers leave
To track the sand
Round robin conspiracy
Threatens us all
The letters all lower case
The finality TALL
Butting my head
Inside of the line
Where does it end, Father
Maybe this time
The black and the white of it
The tall and the short
The poisons the same
One knife in the pork
New action may draw
What inaction restrains
What once again, once again
Once again drains
So back to the future
Back to the past
Choose not your weapon
You’ve had your last laugh
The wind’s in the vestibule
New breath in the hymn
Your darkness commands
What the light needs to win
The seven unsavory
The eight still to roast
The turkey unstuffed
Leaving room for the ghost
So ride away, ride away
Ride away all
The damage inflicted
This hammer a mall
The blood’s in the alleyway
Life beckons on
Death has been slaughtered
—as begins the new song

(Rosemont Pennsylvania: August, 2014)