Winterbound

Can’t ever get warm inside,

can’t it ever get me warm inside?

I go feasting on dreams

that fail to fill my belly,

I go feasting on conversations

and spinning discourses

that only turn me dizzy,

some people are more

down for a debate

than a decision;

in this divide,

there’s dreamers or there’s doers,

I like to fancy myself a doer of the dreams

but sometimes

I just don’t know

where to go,

sometimes the power of my voice and body

trickles into an echo chamber, or

slips into a straitjacket

and can’t wriggle out of it,

sometimes my mind and heart

reach for an idealized world

but when they seize it,

it falls stained and dirty

into reality,

can’t we grow more warm inside,

can’t it ever get me warm inside,

I just want to believe

there’s heat outside

the fire,

I just want to believe

there’s beautiful songs

below the ice,

I just want to believe

the goodness of people

keeps climbing higher,

can’t our hope

keep me warm inside

can’t I hope

to feel warm inside

can’t we hope

to spark a pyre

can’t this hope

come clean through mire

can’t a hope

be, breathe,

be redeemed,

can’t my hope

***

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