am I a dead man walking    imagining release from prison    smiling
un-embittered toward the falsely blind in life    innocent and cased in their
icy lips of death

all for a moment    with wide-opened mouth    a bit of heaven smiles the
sun's birth gleam    releasing beams    warming eyes    picturing Juan

here beneath the sun    where tree-shadows cleave and grey skies flee in a
muddled mess    I rest to cool and sooth    to balm and rub my aching feet
awaiting the darling silent-night    the Noiseless One    Who cloaked in
darkness whispers   I'm here

why is it    with all-Jesus around    we un-Jesus everything and run
to the roaring demons we choose    while he sits silent on the stoop to our
room    a cavalier    destroying fear    and the Death of night

when victims scream    and souls stumble in the shadows of their lives
when we cloak our being    and corset our skin with drugs and rye    he
uncovers pretense    shoving the angelic aside    to eat some meat and
hoist a drink    unbinding guests    and showing the way