When she lays me down
She makes a sound,
Speaks like a prophet from a time
Before the wall came down.
In the morning,
When my eyes are still bleary,
She looks so young still,
I feel only weary.

I went down to the campus to fight,
Figured I may as well kill if I can’t get it right.
The blackening of that girl’s ink welled in my throat at the sight
As if the enemy had come in the night.
What bothers me most now is how little was said,
Knowing now what we knew then

Before my body dies, tell me
How
Do I escape being reborn in disguise?
Come with me,
We can still live our lives,
Turn the past kind
Before our history dies.

Lies cut the man like chalk by the rain,
The faces of old lovers when to you I came.
Hot tears, hot sweat, and the small death we raised
In a time before you, child of Venus, fell into pain.
The killing would take up a different name
That would not bloom in my chest but still took the pain away.

Up went the borders and down came the lines
Drawn by the palsied hand of bifurcated minds,
Saying, “No, you can’t even drum. I know you speak in rhythm,”
Never again to caress under universal skies.
My love was my country, my nation within,
With its song and its pride, its hope, and its fearful kin.

Before my body dies, tell me
How
Do I escape being reborn in disguise?
Come with me,
We can still live our lives,
Turn the past kind
Before our history dies.

An authentic darling made to trust
Convinced me a uniform should glove my lust.
I declared the sovereignty of two must
Be greater than one night’s fuss.

Once the skirmishes subsided,
Declaring their martial law on my home,
I left no blood –
Just a few more hairs on the pillow.

She lays me down
And makes a sound.
She speaks like a prophet from a time
Before the wall came down.
In the morning,
When my eyes are still bleary,
She looks so young, still
I am only weary.

Before my body dies,
Tell me, how
Do I escape being reborn in disguise?
Come with me,
We can still live our lives,
Turn the past kind
Before our history dies.