if you permit
sorry officer
i do not mean to interrupt
i was just wondering if i may
look for my heart
you must have dropped it, officer
when you searched my pockets for weapons and hate
fallen from your calloused hands
if i may just
check between the rubble
i don’t mean any trouble
i must search with care, officer
because my skin is calcium
hard and brittle
it was soft once
taking love and sadness and anger
but now it cracks like the houses
are you not tired too officer
how heavy that gun must be
you could lay it down
this earth no longer fears black metal
if I may just search for what is mine
stepping on friends still beneath the dust
you must have made a mistake burying them, officer
just a mistake
they held my heart, you see
it dripped into the soil
if only i could make you scrub that wall
drink back what you spilled
but the dead only sing from afar
i’d like to lie down and listen
to their choir
a million voices strong
a million lives sunk into this earth
a million lives yet to give
i mean no trouble officer
you could even join me
a million voices carry pain enough for two
i’d just
like to hear them one last time
water our trees with their song
so that it may grow
bountiful once more
if you permit me officer
if you permit