The Grotto

Tides swallow back 
The next breath 
As if I could conspire 
To keep it 
Hidden in my chest where 
All treasures someday end 
Where all measures fail 
To describe this 
The dead wander back 
O'er the next hill 
Encouraged by sunset's 
Refusal 
And if I could conspire 
To see them 
I'd wear my liar's tongue 
Spare fiery rim 
Of this bottle, but 
The red and the black 
And the poison warning on the back 
Say that too many have 
Paid, too many to welcome 
Through the gates 
So Heaven where we 
Should have been 
Came Hell upon 
Our tired limbs 
As we swam 
Through oceans 
And ran through open 
Fields 

Now we lay 
Exhausted 
Still exalting 
Our own will 
Now we pray 
And follow 
The words of 
The swallow 
She said 
"Fly away, and I will 
Hold the evening 
At bay, 'til you're safe 
Across the horizon." 

And I hold back 
And choke on my breath 
And fold my wings 
And scream to the black 
Night, where I lost 
My life 
And I cried, though the tide 
Swallowed deep and dried 
E'ery tear that would serve 
To remind me 

So to say we live then 
Misses the point 
Cause to free ourselves 
Of this burden 
Consumes everything I thought 
I believed 
So I die, wander back 
Amidst the throngs of the dead 
Encouraged by sunsets 
I know, will be fought against 
By the swallow 
By love 
By the hollow 
In my lungs 
When I try 
To expunge 
The light I once was 
In exchange for the peace 
Of the grotto.