The Prize

The politics of religion,

its statues on fire

All martyred saints burning

in canonized pyre

 

As cardinals of vengeance

seek new hearts to be stoned

Inquisitors ramble,

the Creator on loan

 

The religion of politics,

 papal decrees

Guilt laden promises,

 salvationists fee

 

Crusaders on horseback,

twelve Apostles alone

Which is more dangerous,

the Word or the throne

 

(Chorus)

 

“Raise the curtain—praise the Lord,

darkness censures fast

Faith though blind, still hope to find,

beyond iconoclasts

 

“With eyes wide open, see the light,

all else to render lies

His love unending, given free,

eternal life the prize”

 

 

(The New Room: April, 2022)

Your Voice Reversed

You can go anywhere as someone else,

the masks and jesters play

invisible to sound and touch

the Lords and Creatures pray

 

To rent the future—sell the past,

the landlord still unnamed

invulnerable to what they sell

the real prize still unclaimed

 

To cry out once your voice reversed

lone echo at your back

the Landed Gentry comes and goes

—the crossroads blackest cat

 

(The New Room: April, 2022)

Night Hunter

Everybody’s bad day…

a badge without a star

the one who stood when others fled,

each day to raise the bar

 

The one they all could come to,

when freedom was in chains

the light that rampaged in the night

—to hunt what darkness claimed

 

(The New Room: April, 2022)