Same Shade as Concrete -

Rejoice, rejoice a noble birth

A prince is born

Behold the birth of violence

Beasts of fang and feather cry for our concrete rapture

And if we beg to be put down

Unto us the most inspired storm

A princess ravaged by her prince

Behold the birth of sex and distance

Two frail corpses both were they

His eyes were the first to stray

Every tree held fast the earth to sky

Concrete replaces every branch and twig as they were frayed

Upon the birth of ambition

The heavens filled our gilded vessel with poison tears

Before we drink, I propose a toast, a final prayer

Here’s to the watchers in the wood, here’s to the last days

Unto us a most inspired song

Shaper, stop the music

Halt the harp strings whose chords confuse our histories with textures

With the disheartened chorus of a hymnal whose choir is the conviction of the

starving, artless

Tempted by the feast of proof

That this body, that this body of work has worth

Uncertain as the fingering

Of a chord torn prematurely from a piano’s womb

As we fill our precious lungs with concrete, that faithful shade

A shaper’s song is stopped short

A dying breath a singing shore

Then the only movement and the last remains of grace

Pollen falling off the simple hinge joint leg upon the final breath of a

dragonfly

A cardinal, lost but headstrong in mid flight cries for our concrete rapture

Wade in the water, wade

Wade in the water

Wade in the water, child

(Let the flood swell)

Let the flood swell

Thank the storm for her tears

The faithful say its beautiful, its god’s will

But the fool knows what the prophets have seen

No salvation’s impending

The faithful say its beautiful

Its god’s will let the flood swell and the bodies that break

We’ll just float down the river

Stay tame, soft river

While we weigh our faith, stay sweet

Run softly, sweet river

The fool who wades in doubt will float like concrete

Come and, come and fill your lungs

There’s so much hope buried underneath

There’s so much hope buried underneath

There’s so much hope buried underneath tragedy

It’s the same shade as concrete

The faithful say its beautiful

Its god’s will, let the flood swell

On the loudspeaker sermons and a parish descending

There’s so much hope buried underneath tragedy

It’s the same shade as concrete

Let the flood swell