Book of the Dead

And then went down the death of language
We went down full-sail with a belly full of wind
We came to the place where the thunderbird flowed backwards
And we sucked the arrow right out of the target

The ditch we dig yawns from there to here
The candle sniggers then it dies
In the sunken wreck that is my head
Span the spirits of the dead
I was up to my ears
I was right up to my ears
That's what Terry said

All the capitals burning
Down below things are churning
With a violent yell all sense erupting
I can hear the wall is crumbling
All the ghosts are looming up
"Someone's coming up" they said
The red carpet of my face
They rolled the pearls from behind my eyes
In the book of the dead
That's what Terry said

And then Terry came up
We gave him a sup from the cup
Of the blood from the sheep
In the book of the dead
That's what Terry said
We forged ahead

Chin-wagging with a headless face
A sunken singer takes flight
In the middle of a sleepless night
They'll heap my words up upon my resting place
That's what Terry said
We forged ahead

I talked with a man with honey on his tongue
I talked with a man with larceny in his heart
He said "the concrete is the acting"
He said "the abstract is that what acts
And science is a snapshot taken through a shroud of facts