.
Trip into
the garden of the snake.
One more mistake
that I have made.
Words slide into each other.
Brother,
there’s no time
to be afraid.
Daylight beckons
at my window.
Night waits patient
at my door.
I tell you, friend,
I’ve been waiting
on the end,
but I’m not waiting
anymore.
I can see its scales
in the sky.
I can hear its voice
in my mind.
I tell you it sings
a song of everything,
but my heart
tells me it’s a lie.
It’s beautiful
where the sea
meets the evergreen trees.
More lights at night
than those concrete streets.
The snake likes to say,
it makes life complete,
but I wrestle with God,
and I can barely compete
with myself.
Choices made
are choices made.
Count the grass,
every blade.
Count the birds,
every one.
Count down
until I come undone.
Careful where to wander.
Careful where you roam.
The garden of the snake
seems great,
but it isn’t home.
When I come down,
I’ll be gone.
Open up my door
to the night,
and my windows
to the dawn.
That old serpent
just keeps on
singing that same old song.
The kind that serenades
all our mistakes,
right into his coils,
right into our graves.
Not sure we ever get away.
Stray not
near the garden
and it won’t be your fate.
Trip lightly.
Stay safe,
outside the garden gates.
.
.
DJR – 2023
