It Burns

Boldness burns like molten metal
against the sides of timid souls.
If I dare say that there is no sure thing,
I'll be damned by all I know.
Still, I proclaim the truths I've shed blood for.

A crimson phoenix with feathers aflame
circles above those who speak of
ecstasy springing from agony,
and it protects them from blindness,
and it protects them from defeat.

But for those who pretend
that only ecstasy is needed,
the blackest of birds awaits,
and they find feces in their
eyes, and their lies don't stop
the agony from coming.

Know that they'll throw stones and try to tarnish
Your name, hang you, give you hemlock,
 they'll break bones for your trouble, and
when you die, they’ll garnish your face with lye
 to hurry  you off into anonymity.

But give them all the poison from your lips first,
make them look, hold their eyes open till they bleed
as the world collapses in on itself, as we stain
The fabric of this world with our hate,
Manufacturing consent, killing in the name
Of freedom, funding wars with our children’s future,
Children are abandoned to television, familes
don’t know how to love, people without a chance
All hurtling toward some distant nothingness
a planet of people who are destroying
The womb from which they came,
we rape our world out of greed, and we make
Excuses for it all, saying, “It’s the way it’s always been,
And it’s the way it will always be.”

If only they could hear us crying
If only they’d see, if only they could.