Endless summer sweat,
A hay moon overhead,
Collecting a deck of diamonds
From the gutter I was thrown in,
I clean my cuts and sweep the dust
Into a spinning consciousness.
Kerosene was rising in the cavernous basement,
I'm a businessman with my tie slackened and bloodstream boiling,
Holding a compass with a hundred hands and peacock feathers recurring.
Digging in the sediment with dirt under our nails,
Echoes in our eardrums from the belly of a whale
The circuitry is surrounding me.
You'll be back when you get over all these preoccupations,
With a lantern lit and the window cracked that wept white raindrops.
You've been sacrificing ambitions for a shot at redemption,
For a shot at a transition as the silver steam glistens.
We were lion statuettes,
Crumbled and contemptuous
Guarding the morning paper.