Boldness burns like molten metal

against the sides of timid souls.

If I dare say that there is no sure thing,

I’ll be damned by all I know.

Still, I proclaim the truths I’ve shed blood for.

A crimson phoenix with feathers aflame

circles above those who speak of

ecstasy springing from agony,

and it protects them from blindness,

and it protects them from defeat.

But for those who pretend

that only ecstasy is needed,

the blackest of birds awaits,

and they find feces in their

eyes, and their lies don’t stop

the agony from coming.

Know that they’ll throw stones and try to tarnish

Your name, hang you, give you hemlock,

they’ll break bones for your trouble, and

when you die, they’ll garnish your face with lye

to hurry you off into anonymity.

But give them all the poison from your lips first,

make them look, hold their eyes open till they bleed

as the world collapses in on itself, as we stain

The fabric of this world with our hate,

Manufacturing consent, killing in the name

Of freedom, funding wars with our children’s future,

Children are abandoned to television, families

don’t know how to love, people without a chance

All hurtling toward some distant nothingness

a planet of people who are destroying

The womb from which they came,

we rape our world out of greed, and we make

Excuses for it all, saying, “It’s the way it’s always been,

And it’s the way it will always be.”

If only they could hear us crying

If only they’d see, if only they could.