Rain/Water

I know it's so cruel, but there's nothing we can do
So we struggle through the distance
Cleansing rain fall on this separation
Streaming water catch our hands in your flow

It's alright, it's alright
Just two rescued searchers learning how to fight

Love cover these anxious muscles
Grace overcome these strenuous days

I know
I trust
I know
We're gonna go from just trying to survive
to love and freedom being truly alive

The Things We Already Know

She said, "I know... it's hard though."
And I said, "Oh I know, darlin'. But love isn't easy in this world."
And she said she knew that too
"Then we're just saying things we already know," I said with a wink
"But maybe reminding ourselves is half the way to remember we want more than this world's promised."

Tired Bones

Kiss kiss your tired bones

Dip 'em in the warm water
Soak 'em in the soothing tea
No time for sickness when we're singin' these songs

Kiss kiss your tired bones

The pages of our lives haven't been written yet
So darlin', let's get outta here and let the ink on our heels tell our monumental story

Kiss kiss your tired bones

Place the stones to display the marker
Remember the evidence of this devotion
Trembling hands quake no more
Anxious hearts be calm

Kiss kiss your tired bones

Assertions In Elland

Ah another beautiful starry night full of tiny irises reflecting here in Elland, or the United Republic of Tanzania as they like to call it, but we prefer Elland. That’s what we elephants named it long ago in the Early Early Hour when Elbert the Elegant first laid claim and rule to the land. Now we decided to go to a democracy, and yours truly has been elected Queen Elainey by her peers. They know grace and clout when they see it. We’re big, but we’re beautiful you see.

I look out across the whispering plain with my strong eyes. Prancing zebras and speedy impalas and stupid water buffalo and tall white storks are all slipping and sliding around ol’ Wet Water tonight. My pack of pachyderms is enjoying Wet Water with splashes and fountain sprays from lithe trunks. The elly cubs are smiling from one floppy ear to the other. They’re tusks are just starting to come in. I smile too.

Wait… Sniff sniff. Lions are close. Lionesses blending in with the beige tall grass. This is new. They’ve never gotten this nearby to our proximity before.

Oh you lionesses, why are you so close tonight? Bored or just letting all that heat get to your dumb heads? I laugh heartily. Oh and your boys that they like to call “kings of the jungle”? I laugh again from the deep insides of my cavernous rib cage. We’re the queens of this here court and they have no authority at all so keep on walking. What about our masculine mates? Yeah their bellies full of earth may be impressive, but we all really know whose trunks trumpet loudest at the end of the day! I laugh again.

It feels good to be the leader of this sect of Elephantidae. Yes, madams, maybe you should look into it for yourselves. Making all of the decisions is like the sweetest juice from the highest Reddy Red berry trees. Only we and those meddlesome giraffes can reach them. (Don’t worry. I’m working on a plan to get rid of them forever.) But what I say goes, and if there is a fuss thrown, I quickly remind them where they’d be without me. Out on their stumpy tail is where! I am the reigning Queen of Loxodonta africana! My tusks and trunk are the longest and loudest!

So go ahead and flash your fangs in the starlight. Remember our ivory tusks are nothing to shake your pelts at, darlings. You know you can’t take our size or numbers.

You feel the shake of the earth as our feminine feet stamp down… the… trees… Hmmm… where is everyone…?

Now now lionesses, remember who you’re dealing wi-wi-iiii-ahhhhhhhhh!

The lionesses are attacking! I run and stamp and smash and thrash, but they just keep piling onto my massive back. There must be hundreds! (In reality, there were twenty lionesses.)

Their jagged claws and blood-stained teeth continue to try to sink deep into my royal, rugged hide, but I keep running. Maybe if I go into these trees, I can knock these horrible creatures off of me…

Where is my herd of loyal subjects? I cannot have gotten that far away from them… They have to hear this. Why aren’t they rushing to their marvelous leader’s help? I cannot do this alone. There’s far too many of them…

Are these fiendish lionesses starving? They’ve never attacked a full grown elephant before?! What is this?

Oh my dear Elbert the Elegant, I’m feeling weak. These wretched beasts feel like they’ve broken through my mud-soaked skin. I can feel my noble blood dripping down the ridge of my regal spine.

Legs… keep… churn… ing…

None of my aides or subordinates has come… Cannot keep goi-…

I crash into the undergrowth away from my scenic savannah. No one seems to hear the immense collapse. Can barely breathe. I reluctantly listen to them stalking along my back. They’re snarling like the uncivilized brutes they are.

One particular villain walks across my colossal back toward my refined, sturdy neck… One last thought, “What possibly could have happened to my fellow elephants? All I ever did was give them everything they ever dreamed…”

The lioness bites deep into my sinewy neck and severs brain stem from spine.

Is this what I deserved? I will never see the fields of my ancestors. They all died as nobility should, in their sleep underneath Elbert the Elegant’s gigantic feet on the softest beds of grass nearly as tall as our shoulders. Where to now…?

One meticulously eating lioness says to another, “This queen’s trunk is quite tasty, isn’t it, Calla?”

“It most assuredly is, Queen Leora. Most assuredly.”

A Hope For Something More Now And Ever After...

I can't sleep, and I've gotta hit the pavement early tomorrow morning
Working the early shift was not the best choice for this night owl

But I've got the future on my mind,
and I can almost hear my mother praying her heart out here for us

A thousand miles away we're all dropping to our knees
Holding the promises we made ourselves in our hands

And "I don't know" seems to ring hollower and hollower and hollower in my ears
At least "not yet" feels like there's something behind it

The love of a good woman isn't everything, but it's definitely worth it
Broken hearts may not be healed in this life, but I have a hope for something more now and ever after...

I keep listening to Cody sing "My God, what a world You love...
Where men bury their sons and without thought they just walk away"

My eyes begin to tear up at the thought of Your grace
even when we're all fighting and clawing and chasing the cover up...

Jesus, Your Kingdom is ready for the taking
We've done nothing but prepare it through carelessness

We've dug this chasm deeper and deeper spanning more miles than ever thought
I'm just thankful Your arms can stretch this far...



This is what I was listening to while writing this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMBmfhmHj4s
The Widow live at Cornerstone 2007 by Cody Bonnette of As Cities Burn (embed was disabled for some reason)

The One Night Of The Year That Monsters Can Get Away With Anything

I wrote this three years ago. It still fits Halloween. I thought I'd share it again.

The One Night Of The Year That Monsters Can Get Away With Anything

An elegant waxing street lamp of a moon looks down on this freezing city
Vampires and wolves are pacing the glassy streets
The scent of expensive perfume and hair product in their nostrils
This is a new version of an old game, an advancing hunt for this moment
Enter a perfectly landscaped home with just the right amount of souls
Glowing contact eyes tracing the lines of the masks in the dimly lit room
He spots his prey over the plastic cups in hands of all designs
She's a girl pretending to be a woman, refined lace curving on her thighs
He's intrigued by the way her angel wings hang so much better than the others
Across the living room dance floor he passes over the recently deceased
The curve of his mouth catches her off guard, but she can't look away
He encircles her small frame, it carries her by inexpensive wine earlier downed
The kill's almost complete, but no, it can't go down here
He steals her away from the social niceties back to his own secret alcove
It doesn't take long, you wouldn't have heard the slightest sound
His fangs sink deeply within her as her wings fall to the floor
The darkness of shrouding sheets holding them now
Who will they be when they wake up tomorrow?
Who will they be?

The Twilight Flash

The shadows are long,
and I'm on my way to see the twilight flash
in the gold in your honey brown eyes

A sunset kiss isn't cliche when we do it 'cause we do it right
And the dying aspen leaves whisper their jealousy as your lips hold mine

Trust me
Trust me
Trust me