Friday, January 21, 2011

The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things

Lines in my hands, light through the walls 
I'm writing letters to you with my prayers 
Long before what I've stood up will fall 
Or who I thought I might be is ensnared 


A man inside a fish, scales from someone's eyes 
A family in a great big boat while the rest of the world dies 


You're making food to feed five thousand 
You're saying "let the children come to me" 
In the corner of the classroom I am pulling back the carpet 
I'm afraid of what I see.


What is truth? What is truth? What is true? 


How big are love and history and what hides inside their mouths
There are holes in me from things pushed in when I pull them out 
And out of which come questions that I cannot unwrap 
What I once learned is not enough to hold the torrent back.


I feel as though the weight of questions has grown to cruel to bear 
And though I long to lift it now the load makes me despair 
Ask though I may the faces who once led me by the hand 
Their voices are unfamiliar 
I'm not sure they understand 


And now my spine is bowed by boxes on my back 
I don't know how to open them 
I want to give them back 
And yet you will not stir to ease this burden that I carry 
It seems as though you've piled them up and treated me unfairly 


It's this devastating world that laughs and steals upon my back 
And everything comes crashing down when my will finally cracks 


No longer will I tote the cryptic words of ages gone 
When I was being broken, where were you all along? 
Lessons recounted faithfully now fall like clumps of wool 
The men and women who lied to me are cockeyed, panting wolves 
They wave their flags and cast their stones and sneer with lusty grins 
Commanding me to follow a path they have never believed in 
They low like cattle with bulging veins and militant fists in the air 
Join their flock or burn in hell and I'm not sure that I care


Crawling out from the wreckage of all that I've been taught 
I'm leaving it behind 
They fling their venom out at me when I resign 
Outside the gates I drag myself into a world bigger than I had believed 
And inside they flay their sheep lest they follow me and leave 


But after everything I've done and everything I do 
I can still remember you 


Lines in my hands, light through the walls 
I'm writing you letters with my prayers 
After all that I've stood up falls 
And I afford you none of my cares 
If I ask you "what is truth" will you be silent still? 
My questions and doubts made a chasm 
That I fear you can not fill 


Perhaps the lens I've eyed you through 
Keeps me from knowing what is truth 
I can't find what I'm looking for 
And I still remember you 


When I relent the shackles of all that I've been fed 
I pull back the floor and find something beautiful instead. 


After everything That I've been through 
I don't recognize myself anymore 
Sometimes I think I might remember 
But then I close the door 


I walk away from everything and find myself made free 
In all the tangles of who I am the truth is that you love me 
Just as I was, just as I am, just as I will be 
In all the tangles of who I am, the truth is that you love me! 


--Showbread

No comments:

Post a Comment