Time, My Tether

Time, my tethered umbilical cord, is a rope

To the places and people I am living for and to my hope

Disconnects me from my longings and from my home

Sees me come and go on little voyages, distant shores

Breath of our lungs, like wetted paper cups, contract

And expand in their dual little witnesses of the facts

Are my words watering the roots of your heart, or is there lack?

'Cause the birds we’re setting free daily out of our mouths come back

I heard it say that all flesh is grass

It devours with a mouth that never fasts

Do we build our lives on anything that lasts?

Time for seven billion of us to learn love in place

Of the gentle caress and ease of wickedness, saving face

Time for these drying bodies to jump in, get wet

'Cause the river is rushing, wants to swallow us, the river of death