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I Can Sacrifice My Self


by Ivan Reyes


The sacrificial tendency is a real ugly one 
A pound of flesh, because it grows back 
But gnarled and scarred 
For you, 
So you may smile or cry 
Whatever you need 

How about an ounce of truth? 
How about I make a maze 
And you walk through it 
Until you get bored 
And start to resent me 
Because you desire my soul 
But I desire it too 

And I'll share it 
When I feel safe 
And I'll hide it if I don't 
And sometimes some angel can see it regardless 
And they glow for me and I for them and together 
We glow and glow until the darkness at large 
Beckons us to return to it for it feels ownership 
To our light 
And I burn for you 
But you won't make your own light 
Your hearth is damp 
So you stay close to mine 
And I burn till I'm weary 
And I burn through the cold 
And I burn with violence 
And I burn tenderly 
And I wonder why you won't 

I am a lighthouse for lonely men 
Blind, hungry, cold, soulless men 
And so are you, you just don't know it yet 
But there's as much that I don't know 
Or maybe you're not and my eyes are old and useless 

Maybe you do burn 
Maybe my mind is gone 
Maybe you do burn 
And my sense of touch is numb 

The heart is a fighter and when two meet one must kill the other 
Unless they dance 
Like a cobra with a snakecharmer 
But I'm confused 
And my tune is not doing it's magic 
So you bite 
And then regret the bite 
Because then there's no music 
And I repair my wound 

Covered in bandages I play on and on 
I don't mind 
I will be the music that never stops 
For no reason at all 
And when the flesh comes back gnarled and ugly 
My song will describe it 
And you will retract your fangs 
While you dance to my lilting flute 

And I will wait for you to sing of me 
Or until someone else does 
Because angels need to dance 
And they don't really care so much who with 
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