April Sixteenth

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April Sixteenth, on April Sixteenth,

That’s when I go, down Shade of Death Road,

The people above, the people below,

To whom will I go, down Shade of Death Road?

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A static vision of steel city,

Buses ferry the aggrieved to terminals

Piping yellow-black bars of music.

A pearl of stars begins sliding slowly, then faster and faster,

Down somebody’s beautiful shoulder.

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April Sixteenth, on April Sixteenth,

That’s when the teeth, fall out in my hand,

Undone by boulder, or grain of sand,

Oh how will I go, down Shade of Death Road?

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A red ant walks briskly, carrying a berry.

It is puny, panting, unaware of titanic forces

Sliding about its periphery, forces so much larger

And more conscious as to be completely ignorant of its existence.

The small ones continue ad infinitum. They must press on.

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April Sixteenth, on April Sixteenth,

That’s what the dream, it said unto me,

But how did it know, and how did it see

Just when I would go, down Shade of Death Road?

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No man is not a man is a man.

There are forces beyond our control,

To be unlocked, titillated, agitated

By whiskey, failure, happenstance and exceptionalism.

No man is a man is not a man.

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April Sixteenth, on April Sixteenth,

That’s when I leave, my full-hearted bride,

Please say she’ll find me, on that bright other side,

Say so as I go, down Shade of Death Road.

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The final vision –

The crow’s last, blinded flight into glass.

The low, damp hills and the forest.

The munching chust bugs.

The slow conversion to peopleless steppe,

Cracked and rippled, detached and loving,

That needs your bones to grow.

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The music version of April Sixteenth is the third track of the EP Dutiful Heroes. Download it here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, featured here by Commonthought Zine!