Monday, December 2, 2013

Death Sentence

What do you do when a death sentence
Is handed down
And it turned out every breath had to be accounted for
In a ledger that raged and set off an automatic alarm system
Because the balance was too high to ever be repaid
In one lifetime?

You stand in the middle of the courtyard, look up and
Think:
I have walked every inch of this earth and beyond
Each city and countryside combed and smelled and loved
Like a dog enjoying blades of grass with his nose
Which knows the boundless, guiltless joy
Of roaming every capital and hicktown and planet created
Both on and off maps, radars and global positioning satellites
I have lived every permutation there is, was and will be
Tossing off judgement to the wind because
Everything has been paid eons ago
With glee and with blood
Anticipating the sadness
Man makes a ledger that is not honored elsewhere
(They don’t take Visa or MasterCard where we’re headed)
So, start digging
Inch by inch with your hands through sewer pipes underground
Bodies caked with mud, shit and grime
Only to surface clean, spotless
Immaculate,
Blue skies and freedom                


2 comments:

  1. hi joei even if I haven't been in touch...I have been thinking of you for a long time...around the time of this post I probably already was...more so because of the Christmas season....also because I have a co-mom at school with the same ''aura'' and spirit as you it seems...it was her mom who spoke to me about her situation, and on the Christmas family day party, I finally got to ask her. She spoke, albeit briefly as we were celebrating the kids' program. Brief, but she sounded a lot like you.

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