In the Shade of Knowledge
The thing about shadows is –
That light can only make them stronger,
Yeah, the thing about shadows is –
That only dark can kill them.
Oh, bright, heaven-sent, Godly light –
Can make them shrink, can make them disappear under,
But only shadeless, sameness, blackness –
Can really, truly kill a shadow.
The Lady of the Stars looks away from us,
She is crying tears to throw away –
Out over the rocks and spray and spleandor,
She is standing on the bluff up over the sea –
That is worn and beaten down by ages,
And her halo is the sunset, where all our sins sit.
Her war worn general turns away from her,
He can’t stomach all her grief –
That spills out over the heavens,
So he looks instead all across the land
That he does command –
By default, that he does command for her,
And the sunset sinks beneath the surf,
And all the sins are then released –
To flow out and cover all the waves and drop down under,
Like twelve thousand stones tossed into the river,
They are swallowed whole and willingly –
They are pulled away, tugged by tides,
And you know that eons later –
They will wash up on the other shore, smooth and heavy,
Nameless, shapeless, formless truths –
Siting there to form these words –
Delivered from the oceans heartbeat,
That ocean umbilical cord delivers mother’s poison –
But takes away the edges.
Three Wise women of the night stand up in the heavens,
Ancient wisdom they do hold tight –
To keep it safe from passing fears of humans,
But they hold so tight that their pearls burst –
Like forbidden fruit left to age and soften,
And the bitter juice of all their years –
Trickles out between their fingers and down their arms,
And comes down on earth like acid rain or icy tears,
Or like the sweet, sweet nectar of saviors’ dreams –
Or like the children’s imaginary mystic life,
Before they learn to live the normal,
Oh, wise women of your forgotten faith –
Look down upon us,
Sear us with your star filled eyes,
Or your inky black ones –
That know all the sadness in our hearts,
And have looked down the long and endless path that is forever,
Open up your gaping mouths and divulge unto us,
Yeah, sing to us the song of starlight,
And maybe I’ll hear it here –
Inside this rented hotel room body,
Maybe it will sound like church bells and earthy drums,
Or maybe it’ll sound like children singing,
Or maybe it’ll sound like the distant sobbing –
That I hear behind the shower and the sirens –
That wail outside my window,
So, maybe I’d rather hear the song of boulders,
Quiet, silent, stillness that rings forever,
Or whispers coolly, slowly beside my ear,
And never hurries.
I think I’d like to play the drums that are the heartbeat,
I’d like to pound the earth –
To make the pebbles shake and rattle madly,
And the dancers would come in yelling,
Come in shrieking, come in wailing with their passion –
And their anger all aflame,
They’d shake and cry and spin their game,
And I’d know that they were dancing to me –
That my hands control their feet,
My noisy heartbeat elevates their own,
Because the drums are mine,
And then I’d know it's my game they play,
Because I have laid the rules.
The funny thing about shadows is –
That to shine bright light at the obstacle,
Will only make them stronger,
Yeah, the funny thing about shadows is –
That only deepest, blackest darkness drowns them,
Oh you can cut down, shut down
All that stands in the way of lightness –
To make a flat and barren desert,
And in this lifeless place the bright will bleach and reign,
And wash all the color out to the ocean,
But this blinding, dreary place –
Would be too baked to live in,
So patterned, layered, criss-cross shadows –
Will spill out over the world forever,
Like the black and gleaming sins,
And the passions thick and hot,
To weave a cloth of dense and weary tapestry,
Depicting all the hearts of man,
And come to rest upon our cold and shivering shoulders,
And wrap around, so firmly, tightly –
The lonely figure of the lover.
