Amongst the Sleepers and the Dead

Every star,
Nightly
Dancing upon
Every sea,
Both caressing
And
Crushing
Every shore
With juggernautical
Whimsy,
Forth and back,
Flying,
Falling,
Just like me
And the inconvenient tears
That you’d like
To ignore

I won't be ashamed,
Anymore,
By any means
Or
Anyone,
So,
Watch me burn and rise

And every bridge I lay to waste
Is weeping on a distant shore,
And everyone I disappoint
Is a hanging judge
In a kangaroo court

And everything I’ve failed to be
In conquest or
Pleasing symmetry
Or glaring sign I failed to
Heed,
That screamed its klaxon call
Or hissed at me,
Through a fissure
Of rising steam,
Comes back to haunt,
With crooked finger
Casting oblique shadows,
Through an oblong door,
When I’m feeling low

But,
In spite of
Or
Because of these,
I take flight
Or
Am I falling up,
But seeing
Is believing
And I’m standing,
Still,
In my cloak of scars,
Amidst the prone,
The sleepers
And the dead

Burn me down
And I’ll afford you
The privilege
Of watching me rise
Again

This ain’t my first rodeo

And everyone who’s gone now
Bequeathed a lesson
And every bruise and curse,
Everything taken
And broken,
Became a blessing

And out of the fear of
Cookie cutter
Conformity,
“Take a knee,”
They still say to me,
But I will not be less than free

And it may be
That I take flight
Or
I am falling up
But,
My purpose holds
And
I oppose,
As I am standing,
Still,
I stride
Forward,
Footfalls
Stirring
Shipwrecks
To shake off their beard
Of barnacles
And a motley crew
Of wayward angels,
Form rank
To either side,
Amidst the prone,
The sleepers
And the dead

And the long silence
That followed
Each infliction
Of violence,
I then learned,
To inflict
Upon myself,
Will be filled
To bursting,
With
My voice
And
My light
And my gentleness

Long after
I lie prone,
Amongst the sleepers
And the dead

..

Amongst the Sleepers and the Dead
By
O Filo Sou, O Drakos