The Signs

At first there was a panic
Leaves spread over the facts
Spreading out words that found you
Buried in the garden

And awake you were but not
ideas rose like dust floats in shafts of light

There were three eyes peering out
Each was a test to fail
Failure was alarming and imminent
Death was a shadow on your left shoulder
But failure was fear inevitable

The first eye closed, betraying you to science
The second eye blinked in the gusts of wind
The third staring until you felt a future form

But instead of running for the trees and shaking branches
so the leaves rattle a repeating spell
and disturb the vagrant dust in the air
you plant your feet with a sense of community

You found facts with hungry mouths

Slough off indifference
ignore the war and criminal wilds
hold up your hand and avoid the cruel paralysis

Those lines were drawn

And now the dancers have wrapped their leggings in denim
And the dreamers woke with greed restored

They took and left nothing but love for their own
and yet the final chapters unfold with the kindness of skin