it was the moment
my body fell limp
6.5 years old carried
in my big brothers arms
during the final casket receiving line
when i realized
i would never kiss my father again
that was the moment
my sanity didn’t survive
it was the moment
my body fell limp
6.5 years old carried
in my big brothers arms
during the final casket receiving line
when i realized
i would never kiss my father again
that was the moment
my sanity didn’t survive
Many’s the time I’ve been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I’ve often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
Oh, but I’m alright, I’m alright
I’m just weary to my bones
Still, you don’t expect to be bright and bon vivant
So far away from home, so far away from home
And I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered
Or driven to its knees
But it’s alright, it’s alright
For we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the
Road we’re traveling on
I wonder what’s gone wrong
I can’t help it, I wonder what has gone wrong
And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was flying
We come on the ship they call The Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age’s most uncertain hours
And sing an American tune
Oh, and it’s alright, it’s alright, it’s alright
You can’t be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow’s going to be another working day
And I’m trying to get some rest
That’s all I’m trying to get some rest
lyrics by Paul Simon
who knew
the 6th mass extinction
on the planet
would be set into motion
not by a furious comet
instead thrown into chaos
by an insidious cloud
of misinformation
(que piano music)
we go through the motions
nods, hellos, & how are yous
eyes casting down not to impose
swallowed back into a mask that is saving humanity
but depriving us of dimples
a curl at the corner of a wink and a smile
warm creases telling jokes
knowing microexpressions
laugh lines
that dopamine rush of connectivity
that reminds us why
we fight to stay alive
what it is to be human
remember to look up
into my eyes
from now on
i am going to write
“I hate what the world has become…”
in the memo
of all my paper checks
we are minerals
and death
sinewy tongued
carbon based
monstrosities of chemistry
capable of love
hate
warheads
television and
entropy
hubris enough to murder a planet
and want more leg room on airplanes
we would find a way
to kill the stars
if they weren’t dead
already