TIME TO CLEAN THE GLASS

It was time to clean the glass
I began the work the work

With great optimism
But the stains grew darker
Except the bright wing of winter
And the scarlet pieces pierced with light

As the morning set through the windows
It was hard not to weep and forget
That these were churches once
Where honest people prayed for rain
And all the other things they threw away
And then I finally slept
Rocked by the arms of my mother
Reaching through from the other side
I was so happy

She had made it where the water rises and ebbs
And the only floods are light
I awoke to the sound of television
Glass unbroken Saints’ still fingers on guitars
We sink with birds and watch the water approach

This is how it used to be
But time is our friend
It takes us along wherever we go
And the waves crash against the dunes
Horseshoe crabs in the shallows
Their carapaces face the sky
As we are bent towards the floor
Looking for some miracle bug to exterminate