Ashes to Ashes

Ashes to Ashes
2-17-10
11:56 pm

There's a cross on the far hill
With a body hanging limp
Long hair on a gaunt body
Decayed so much in three days
Yet all was said and done
The Son we maimed divine-
Died a mortal like all the rest
Watched all the village folk
Watched the angels and his pa'
Who screamed, he screamed
Like a roar of thunder, shook the earth
As the demon in the wake
Nailed up our Son to that cross
And his lover cried as she saw
His hands nailed up
One finger at a time..

Pa' came home from work one night
Walked in at half past eight
Sat his coat up on the stand
With a puzzle in his eye
Said they burnt a witch today
Tied her up for the world to see
Naked as the day she'us born
And watched the ma's an' pa's
Watched the children and the strays
Watched the angels and the Son
Watched in silence as
The demon in the wakes
Cast her to the flames to die.

That boy grew up a wild one
Without his mama or his pa'
Had the quickest draw in all the land
His spurs so sharp they drew blood
A crisp hole right through his hat-
The young fella tried his luck
Perhaps a time or two too much
Finally got caught..
Can't draw a gun when your
Holsters empty an' your
Six feet off the ground, now, can ya?
Can't draw a gun when your hands
Are tied behind your back
Hog tied like a martyr-
Yet he kept that gleam in his eye
As all his buds and gals wept
Kept the gleam in his eye
As his ma' and his pa'
Shook their heads with a sigh
He kept the gleam in his eye
Right up till the very end
As the demon in the wake
Let go of the rope
Suffocating under the weight
Of an orphans lungful crimes.

I saw a girl get shot today
In front of the firing squad
As they went down the line
She flinched. Each and every time-
And the last guy sweated cuz'
He knew that he was it.
Couldn't bring himself
To pull the trigger
To shoot the pretty little girl
Standing right in front of him
Convicted of a single crime
- the right to speak her mind..
Ironically, what she was
Preaching for was peace.
She smiled at the soldier
Not a day past seventeen
Placed a daisy in the barrel
Of his rifle, but didn't move away..
On this innocent, lovely girl
He couldn't bear to shed harm
Until finally
The demon in the wakes
Pulled the trigger
And the angel died right in his arms.

* * *

My whole body was numb
I didn't even feel the last nail
The man in the hooded cloak
Asked if I had any last words...
So I spoke.
And the sky boomed-
My father accepted me,
And for that I am content,
Ashes to Ashes..

I couldn't hardly breath
As I wretched in all this smoke
My whole body screamed
And the man in the hooded cloak
Asked if I had any last words,
So I spoke.
A crying man cut me off
Looked to be in his mid fourties
Pry had a family of his own-
In that, someone felt my story
Knew that this was wrong
And as the flames creep higher
For that I am content,
Dust to dust..

Well, Pa', I suppose my luck ran out
Drew my revolver just a little slow
Was moving just a little too fast..
In short, I didn't make it home
From this one, ya old geezer.
Spose I'll finally meet ya, Pa'
As a man in a hooded cloak
Asked if I had any last words
So I spoke.
The men nodded at me
The gals tried to stifle tears
The children stared in awe.
Face to face with a 'legend'
Whose true motivation was
To find the Pa' he'd never got.
So I spat out my last
Wad of tobacco
As they watched me, pondering
Over my final words-
I'm sure and certain, I hope..

They're on the last one, now
And he ain't a day oer' twenty five
Still wet behind the ear
Drunk in the innocence of life
Dazed at the sobering thought:
It was a lie.
I placed my hair tie in
The barrel of his gun
Flashed a smile, I was alright.
The boy cried and
He shuddered
Couldn't pull the trigger,
At least the whole world
Isn't so corrupted
There's still hope for love
And I spose that's good enough for me
That peace might prevail,
And humanity would stand tall
The resurrection into eternal life.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust
I'm sure and certain
In the hope of ressurection
Of eternal life.

You see, my stories not so far away
It's not a compilation of history
Kind of complicated
But simplified in common sense:
Just a bunch of different faces
All lost in the mist of life.