The City and The Sway

these auburn days
blackened through and through
are spiraling
and the edges catch the light
we could never guess at numbers caught in our teeth
when we've bitten through these books
and the bees have survived through the fall
the wingbeats roar and the flowers freshly decayed
it'll break your beating heart,
these numbers that we won't ever forget
oh, it's a guess

snarled smiles
clawed hands in jest
the nights reply
when monsters lay to rest
we share the view of shore at dusk with these birds
who have rewritten themselves
as the bleak actresses
in the fog belief at the end of a curtain call
in the script we're bleeding out
we've burned these words inside our lower lips
oh, it's a gas

humbly we shake through
each dawn's parade of silver gold and blue
if tyranny could pull those birds back into repose
then we could all protest
for the bees who survived through the fall
whose fleshy tongues would recount all that they saw
when they shake their fevered wings into a thaw
they'd beat retreat and simply fly away

 

i hear a sound burning in my ears
of dissonant harmonies
sung by a stone angel
maybe from heaven maybe from hell
if you can hear the same sound
as me i think you’re broken
you’re cursed or you’re blessed
doesn't matter which is worse
if we both hear the same sound at the same time
i believe we're walking into the sky
or descending into heat
the space in between our minds
is quietly folding in on itself
hold me up
hold me down
hold me up
lay me down

 

gnashing your teeth
suddenly you've grown so old
filling up empty plates
with silence at your side
and fortified, you've kept running
you're running at the mouth
while dust collects in your arms
your arms won't hold anyone

and all the feathers you've got stuffed in your mouth
the color of envy green
will curl like leaves
with autumn in your sights
and once the curtains are pulled
you'll keep staring at the streets
with all you own in your arms
your arms won't hold anyone

with your eyes fixed straight at the ceiling
stealing shadowed tricks
your arms held at your chest
your iris open wide
and once the angels start kissing
they'll keep kissing
just to pass the time
until they pull you by your arms
your arms won't hold anyone

 

keep the furtive armies at their tables
from pushing back to stand
when their leaden voices come to call your name, dear
give them all the fight you have
and conjure all your secret names
and turn them where they stand into pirouetting cranes

make them dance around the city streets
cold blue eyes reflecting in the windows
their bodies covered all in flames
the city and the sway
what sinister machines

let them rust on the corners
let them leak in the gutters
as they slow down and seize

send them out until the streets are choking
how marvelous, your hands keep sliding up your sleeves
and i can't see where you keep your cards
and all my blustering
the empty and the grand
the dust and fading days
won't keep you from the question
won't keep you from asking where have they gone?

and i will answer when you slow down and seize
i will give you an answer when the light is just so
i will answer you when the light falls from the trees
and hits your eyes
i will answer you when the seas break
i will answer when the evening comes along
like a big surprise