Circle of Signs

In the red budding of love
Forgot we even had blood
Sea of roses calls our bluff
Sea of horses rose to meet us

In the circle of signs
Salt our time
Buoyant, fine
In the rise
Of every woman, man, creature, tide, child
Licking their wounds to see if they're still wild
In this reckless, generational dive
Licking at our friends
Who we’re trying to revive
An incomprehensible weight of the times
Most pivotal, honorable, to be alive

And she burns
California’s turn
Will we ever learn?
Here in the circle of pines
All eyes turn to whites
Pile of our insides
Nothing, nothing left to hide

With prophesy, prayer & sacrament the youth will rise
Still—lynchings, screen addictions, evilness, lies
What will it take?
Do we even need to survive?
Is this birth canal too tight
For that star-swaddled consciousness
To come earthside?
An incomprehensible weight of the times
Most pivotal, honorable, to be alive

My love burns
Will he ever return?
California, I’m yours
To ashes my heart’s turned
To ashes our hearts turn

So, just put them to rest
In uncertainty’s urn
Forgive us for each chance
We refused to learn
Book of the old ways—
Earth, Water, Seed, still turns
But we will pay
For every page burned