Kit Kelen #530 - survivor's song

530

survivor's song

I wasn't there

not when the trumpets

not for the plague

not in the dark of the dream

one lies down

one falls out of the picture

one is no longer spoken of

I wasn't in the tree

when it fell

not in the noose

when lightning struck

I wasn't there

but I was somewhere then

was I still?

was I on my way?

had I been?

could I come back?

I was tearing the wings off of angels

I held a camera for the auto-da-fé

one lies down

one falls out of the picture

one is no longer spoken of

I was accused

below earth, over heaven

I had spoken the names of old gods

with respect

I had asked a question

is this hand raised in anger?

is this a salute?

one lies down

I was absent in mind

that sun burnt a hole through the earth

I was under a hat at the time

I wasn't there

I won't be

I caught it too

and we all went down

it's not what's coming that matters to me

I will not have been there

the place before the war

that is no longer now

and after the war

they are gone

weren't we sung here?

is there another way?

one shouts into the fog

falls from the frame

one is no longer spoken of

I wasn't in the trap they set

I didn't get in the way of the truth

I shook the earth too

I shook the sky

will I be safe in the dream?

the shoes of the hanged

are limp with the rain

curled in the sun

till they fall

or are stolen

hard times!

can you hear this song?

isn't this how we are here?

it is a practised dark

this dreaming

and home

here where we listen and watch

and must sing

if you think we survived

you weren't in the frame

don't you know it's their light

shines on me

the light of the gone

who were there

?