Exile - Light This City

When you gaze into your polished metal plates

You picture the face of a man who longs to see his soul

But claws are claws

Whether sharpened or painted or blunted

From hours of bounding

One-track-minded, through the snow

I have arrived

An exile too inferior for your highness to fight

Armored

Not humored

And prepared to seize your life

The prisoner I came to rescue sits down to watch the fight

With tears in her eyes

Who knew a tongue could do so much harm

Lying in one’s mouth

Dancing to music that wasn’t really there

Muttering about moments we never even shared

Your twisted jaw moves

But you’ve lost all sound

How soon till your breath runs out

When the others gaze into your polished eyes

As glassy as the doll’s you hold to represent your soul

They witness the face of an animal acting like a man

In their confusion, you dressed them in sashes and perfume

But the stench seeps through

I long to scream

My country

This is not how we were supposed to live

And with each mortifying blow

I’m fading rapidly

Get up

I hear that faithful onlooker plead

She won’t insult me by looking away

When I start to bleed

Who knew a tongue could do so much harm

Lying in one’s mouth

Dancing to music that wasn’t really there

Muttering about moments we never even shared

Your twisted jaw moves

But you’ve lost all sound

How soon till your breath runs out

One leap

One strike

And the metal snaps away from your face

That chattering jaw comes unhinged

And your insincere tongue hangs down from your neck

I plunge through the ribs and grasp the steaming

Slippery heart

It slides down my throat and I am king again

Tear down these garish walls and let the prisoners free

Throw their gaudy stones out to the sea

Rip these dolls limb from limb

Claws proudly unsheathed

Our souls were never meant to be seen