Hard Seltzer

When the crystal broke

I knew it was time to let go

Time to do things differently

To let toxic habits fade

As their embers singed

The pages of my diary

When I heard the song

That goes

Oh Happy Day

I envisioned in my mind

How people die

All the time and every day

Bullets enter flesh

But choirs still sing

When the throbbing began in my brain

I knew I had been thinking too hard

And drinking too much

But not drinking enough

to make certain thoughts

go away

Hard seltzer

For hard thoughts

Broken crystals

To heal broken spirits

vintage gospel

For the godless angels

Bound to this godforsaken earth

Sometimes we don’t have

the words for prayers

But that doesn’t mean

Our souls aren’t crying

If someone hears

Those muffled sounds

Can they bring relief

A respite from our aching

A reprise to brighter days

I know the pain in his body

Because it matches my own

But even so

I want to pray

to take his away

The rawest

most unfiltered love

Is slightly poisonous

In its strength

We don’t know yet

How to temper it

Into something

That sits inside

The jaw’s cheek

Without burning the flesh

Can the ramblings

Of my heart

Be made mild

my tongue un-forked

And my belly turned

as soft as a lamb’s

And find a devotion

that is tender

And balanced and merciful

And not envious or greedy

Loving someone

the wrong way

is a sin

It makes hearts

and minds rot

And the death causes

A stench

Something different

That is selfless and honest

Is closer to holy

It is as close to the gates

As we can get