Let the new year begin
And let the last one end
As the keys punch the headlines
Into your skin
Burning hot like cattle brands
Will you have a choice
Or will it be out of your hands?
Will you see what is written?
Will you read your last rites?
Will it be everything black
Or everything white?
Everything day
Or everything night?
Is it all or nothing?
Just this or just that?
The record keeps skipping
But nobody knows
Where the player is at
Something is broken
Might be the record
Or maybe the needle
You can get another one
On the corner
In front of the steeple
The gates open wide
The door swings on its hinge
An injection to heaven
Or a highway to seven
Just a shot in the arm
From the holy syringe
What is it you’re drinking?
Tell us again
Do you have music
In your streets with no end?
Do you have love for your children
Stronger than wind?
Will you have my own father
To his own father be sent?
Do you live and die
On this land planted deep?
Do you know what is yours
And what the earth keeps?
Were you called into existence
At a child’s first words?
Were the lines on your face
Just the flight path of birds?
Will you have artists at work
And writers putting it off?
Will your wretched be righteous
And your faithful still scoff?
Will you make spaces between
The wrong and the right?
Will you have visions between
Blindness and sight?
Do you have multitudes always
Demanding their way?
Do you have anyone asking
What you need today?
Will you have a place
To keep these words hidden?
A heart to hold them
And to break
And to be forgiven?
No need to answer
No need to pretend
Just let the old year end
And let this one begin
