slippin into darkness

And I was
Slipping into darkness
Slipping away
Slipping free
Free to see all the people
Slipping up the street
And around the corner
Standing with eyes open
Fixed on
Better places and better ways
To get it, make it, plan it
Their mind beyond the dreams
As I was
Slipping into darkness
I didn’t know my name
Call me, find me, free me
In the slip, ready
Cash in my hand, money on my mind
And the drunken people
In the pews
Calling on the sword
To smite their unseen enemies
For the lack of mirrors
Turned from their own reflections
Less they see the need
Of corrected stance
When I heard my mother say
That I was slipping
Into darkness
Treading a edge
Between margins and marginalization
My brother sought my face
And yet, I didn’t recognize
Me
Wholly, slowly, holy
No one understood
Save the man in the alley
How one gets lost
In broad daylight
Waiting to get found
Yet needing to be
Lost, remembered, alone
Sucking on my salvations
I sat on steps of promises
Though I know they are out of order
I’ve been
Slipping into darkness
On rhymes, on dreams, on grief
On counselor’s wings
The program works
If you do it
Unless you can’t remember how
I am
Slipping into darkness
The piper taunts, teases, tries
My patience
For what I think I need
And pretty soon
I’m gonna pay

© NP
11/22/11