Part One

1
There was a murder in Indianapolis today. A drug addict robbed a father of two. A semi-automatic discharged and he fell in silence. Sirens, lights, blood, reporter. A small obituary, page A13. A few survivors, the city survives. We all know each other. He knew Jack and Jack knows Kate and Kate knows Mike and Mike knows me and I know a girl and she knows you. We're all connected. We all survive.

2
It's a rainy night in Waco.
The thunder roars "It's time."
Rain falls, like walking feet,
Journeying to the final destination.
It is time.
Lightning shows the path.
I blink.
It's dark.
Somehow I'll find my way.
It's time.

3
My face half-lit from a candle's light.
Listening in the silence.
Waiting for something.
Anything.
Guide me.
Lead me home.

4
I want to fight no more forever.
Let me eat and sleep in peace.
Even a warrior tires of rage.
Must my knife be by my side?
Why must I hurt? Why must I fight?
In this world all is hostile.
I have no choice.
Lightning illuminates my blade.

Part Two

1
A pothole on the road to however.
The lines faded so long ago.
Not even the wind as a companion.
Dust kicked up by my feet.
Sun beating on my head.
An empty, lonely road.
Highway out of emptiness,
A lonely path from nowhere.

2
Look out! Get back!
Steel fists blurs on the horizons.
No way around
This pinball game run by Death.
I can't advance unless I play.
Standing on the edge of life,
Scared of a leap of faith,
Yet all I can do is jump.

3
Facing the fists of rage
Dodging bounding leaping running
As the Reaper says "Let's dance"
Muscles taut as the prey prays
And the Reaper grins entertained
"Hey girl let's dance"
I spin aside as a steel fist races by
He laughs and says "Not bad"
I smile and wink and dodge again
Leap like a deer freed from the hunt.
I smile at him and he smiles at me.
"Some other time," I say.
"We'll slow dance, beautiful," he says.
What's he think we just did?

4
I shouldn't have come here, the eyes say.
The monster seeks my life.
It's not going to end here
Alone so far from home.
I draw my knife and nod.
We stare at each other.
The phantom lunges, I plunge my knife,
It meets only air.
The monster dissolves like morning vapors.
I stand perplexed and catch my breath in silence.
I blink and resheath my knife.

Part Three

1
The ground is firm and dry,
In need of healing rain.
Nature is neither friend nor enemy.
Let it rain.
I've never understood why there's droughts
When a nearby place is flooding.
The earth cracks open in a feeble cry
Take pit.
Like a baby bird whose mom died by a cat,
Life itself is helpless, but fighting to live.
Let it rain.

2
A mocking sprinkle dusts the ground
Like the hard-line preacher and the child
The out-of-wedlock baby he does not want
To receive the grace of God.
Sometimes I think he usurped God
And now the whole region suffers scorn
For a murder in Indianapolis.
He says I'm tortured by demons.
He ran me out of the church.
He hates me and the out-of-wedlock child
For no sin or fault of our own.
Creator, let it rain.

3
Perhaps God sees our pain and weeps
To send His cleansing, healing rain.
Maybe He wants to shut the hard-line preacher up.
Preacher said droughts and floods are wrath
But bad things happen to the good.
That's life.
Anger and judgment can't hear the music.
The rain sings as it meets the earth.
A song of joy, survival, hardship.
So often sung, so rarely heard.
Listen.

4
It's always calm after a storm.
They strike hardest when your guard is down.
Ghosts hover in the mist.
En garde!
But how do I fight what's dead to all but me?
He looks at me and laughs.
I draw my knife and snarl
He sneers at me and boasts
"I've already won, my venom's in your heart."
I have no choice.
I plunge the knife into my arm.
He falls.
I blink.
Who won?
The blood runs down my arm.

Part Four

1
Lying on a riverbank
Splashing water on the wound
Thinking in disgust.
My reflection disturbed and accurate.
I bandage my arm and watch.
The water slowly flows
Meandering toward the goal,
A temporary destination.
The journey is its home.

2
My life's one cosmic joke
I pause to sit on the bridge
I think of life and death.
Is there a reason?
Maybe. Maybe not.
Does it really matter?
There's nothing I can do.
Either way life goes on.

3
Sometimes you take a journey for its own sake.
I stand on the road and smile.
The wind caresses the golden fields
As the old white barn stands strong.
The cityscape on the horizon
I'm home.
What's home?
Only a memory.
Cut off from my family,
Run out of my church,
Rejected by the ones I loved.
Sometimes the journey is better than the destination.

4
There was a suicide in Indianapolis today. People shake their heads and turn the page. No one stops to learn whatever lessons there may be. They just distance themselves and ignore the pain. People never could face an ugly truth. Life goes on. We all survive.