I see you out walking
Holding a mirror beneath your eyes
So you can look downward into the
skies
One step at a time all the way home
Careful not to go near the sun’s heat
For fear of burning your tender feet
Using cooler clouds for stepping
stones
I see you out walking
I see you flying your kite in the
park
I see you scribbling your notes in
the dark
I see you melting your wax
feather by holy feather
I see you blessing the wind
and cursing the weather
I see you out walking
Your entire family
In your backpack
Your father, the book of holy
scripture
Your mother, the bottle of booze
Your sister, the dirty picture
Your brother, all of these things
That you will later come to lose
I see you out walking
Sometimes yelling
Sometimes talking
As your self worth gets dragged
Like cans tied to the bumper
Of the newlyweds car
Rattling down the strip
On the way to vegas
What does that make us?
Where does that take us?
I just told you
It takes us to vegas
Through a desert full of beggars
Pleading with dreams lost
I see you wondering
How much did these rings cost?
I see you holding the wheel
Singing along
You don’t even know the words
But you?
You wrote the song
It’s a love song
It comes on strong
But it leaves one of us invisible
Like a river that’s died
Completely unfishable
Like a star that’s fallen
Completely unwishable
And yet I see you
There you go
86 miles an hour
Through the no man’s land
Of volcanic sand and emptiness
above
Hoping for a pool
And maybe a hot tub
And complimentary waffles
I see you
We came for a lifetime commitment
to make
But it was just another 2.5 minutes
to wait
For the idealized perfect object
To deliver melted butter
On your tongue
I see you studying the painting
In the hotel lobby
A giant oak tree in a field of green
Its trunk gnarled, knobby
I see you wondering
Did this artist make any money
Or was it just their hobby?
I see you as you study the tree
And begin to truly consider it
Better than the real thing
Like an arboreal book for the highly
literate
You degenerate
My heart breaks for you
I see you becoming a shadow
Of a human being
Cast on the ground by another
Who knows how to climb a real tree
But you?
Who are you?
I see you putting others in their
places
I see you turning from their faces
I see you plotting white lines of
power
I see you plumbing the poisoned
shower
I see you
And I hate you
But this?
This is a love song
And so it seems
That I’ve also
Forgotten the words
I see you outside feeding the birds
I see you smiling when your
children run to you
Crying when they hold a gun to you
I see you out there
Flying your kite in the storm
Flying too close to the sun
Like a man on the run
From every god that ever was
I see you Icharus
I see the living God in you
And I forgive your pride and your
treason
I see you Benjamin Franklin
I see your love of logic and reason
And I forgive you for harboring
The fugitive Christ in your softer
places
When I look in the mirror
I see both of your faces
I see you wondering
Which side I’m coming from
Flipping and flopping
Some might call it… waffling
Mmmm…
But yes,
I see you both in all of these words
I see you both in the flock of birds
That soars the sky beneath my feet
Where earth and heaven meet
I see your electrical hypothesis
I see your melting overconfidence
I see your scientific method of
learning, Mr. Franklin
I see your religion crashing and
burning, Mr. Icharus
Both of them bound in time to become…
Fossils
So…
Let’s go get some breakfast,
gentlemen
I’m suddenly craving…
Waffles
