on my own i stand today
and whisper the music of the sage
alone and trembling
i am not afraid
as the horses run out the gate
i placed a tarot card in your hand
and the Empress smiled as she turned to sand
all my bones disappeared
but here I stand
no body, no mind, no face

I could swear I dreamed this before
everything looks so clear; every note, every pore
my fingers lifting the latch on the door
and the smell of my fear
AS IT BURNS ON THE FLOOR
and the words of my mother
echoing once more:
child, you don't have to be afraid
sayin' child, you don't have to be afraid

cause everything in this world gets eaten alive
every cell of every tree
every bee in the hive
dies alone in the warm mouth of Time
but everything's gonna be just fine

cause i feel something moving my pen
when i write
like i feel something tugging this dark Veil
of night
Ten thousand stars
and all i'm asking for is a sign
familiar music
of a word
in flight

or the taste of your mouth
as it turns into wine
the histories in the moon
and the poems in the sky
the Red Pony sweating
between my thighs
as across the Dreaming
we ride and we ride
and the dreams of our fathers
the screams of little girls
gathered like cinders
at the end of the world
the fire burns faster
if you give into the swirl
of the madness of this age
the madness of this age....

and I've never been so old
i've never been so young
as when a story writes its life
on my lips and my tongue
burning like the monk
who knows that he is one
with the beautiful ashes
of the cold winter sun
kissing life like a bullet
screaming from the gun
at the mouth of the Rose
where glass webs are spun
and shattered by a finger
don't know what it's done....

it's just a part of the Mystery
wrapped into one
the painful coincidence
that burns my lungs
with every breath
i see death
but am born to the sun;
a tree growing green
in a crematorium