Wooden Heart
We’re all born to
broken people on their most honest day of living
and since that first
breath... We’ll need grace that we’ve never given
I've been haunted by
standard red devils and white ghosts
and it's not only when
these eyes are closed
these lies are ropes
that I tie down in my stomach,
but they hold this
ship together tossed like leaves in this weather
and my dreams are
sails that I point towards my true north,
stretched thin over my
rib bones, and pray that it gets better
but it won’t won’t, at
least I don’t believe it will...
so I've built a wooden
heart inside this iron ship,
to sail these blood
red seas and find your coasts.
don’t let these waves
wash away your hopes
this war-ship is
sinking, and I still believe in anchors
pulling fist fulls of
rotten wood from my heart, I still believe in saviors
but I know that we are
all made out of shipwrecks, every single board
washed and bound like
crooked teeth on these rocky shores
so come on and let’s
wash each other with tears of joy and tears of grief
and fold our lives
like crashing waves and run up on this beach
come on and sew us
together, tattered rags stained forever
we only have what we
remember
I am the barely living
son of a woman and man who barely made it
but we’re making it
taped together on borrowed crutches and new starts
we all have the same
holes in our hearts...
everything falls apart
at the exact same time
that it all comes
together perfectly for the next step
but my fear is this
prison... that I keep locked below the main deck
I keep a key under my
pillow, it’s quiet and it’s hidden
and my hopes are
weapons that I’m still learning how to use right
but they’re heavy and
I’m awkward...always running out of fight
so I’ve carved a
wooden heart, put it in this sinking ship
hoping it would help
me float for just a few more weeks
because I am made out
of shipwrecks, every twisted beam
lost and found like
you and me scattered out on the sea
so come on let’s wash
each other with tears of joy and tears of grief
and fold our lives
like crashing waves and run up on this beach
come on and sew us
together, just some tattered rags stained forever
we only have what we
remember
My throat it still
tastes like house fire and salt water
I wear this tide like
loose skin, rock me to sea
if we hold on tight
we’ll hold each other together
and not just be some
fools rushing to die in our sleep
all these machines
will rust I promise, but we'll still be electric
shocking each other
back to life
Your hand in mine, my
fingers in your veins connected
our bones grown
together inside
our hands entwined,
your fingers in my veins braided
our spines grown
stronger in time
because are church is
made out of shipwrecks
from every hull these
rocks have claimed
but we pick ourselves
up, and try and grow better through the change
so come on yall and
let’s wash each other with tears of joy and tears of grief
and fold our lives
like crashing waves and run up on this beach
come on and sew us
together, were just tattered rags stained forever
we only have what we
remember
[from Wooden Heart
Poems by Listener (2010)]
Thanks to my good friend Scott Twite for sending me this
link.
This entry was posted
at Monday, July 18, 2011
and is filed under
Brokenness,
Creativity,
Music,
Poetry
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