The Lament of Stone Bones

In the middle of his dream,

Stone Bones wakes up to smoke,

gone are the days of Mary Jane and gold,

he forgets where he left the girl in the snow.

Sometimes still, he hears her cry,

'Don't go, please, don't go'

If he could remember her neck,

where he found his sleep, he would remember

that dream that he once shared alone.

'Stack me up, in this souless world,

of poison and class, and slavery and mould.'

He goes to the window, every image he sees

becomes his shadow, every word a burden

a prologue for a story he never told.

The glass whirls into his desk,

web of confusion, a desire for nihilism.

In the day, some ideals; in the night the cold.

"Did I lose my essence, did I find the vaccum,

why did they lie about happiness?

why did they create the need for nothingness?

What do I fight for, the downtrodden or the dead,

who do I live for, the future or the present?

What should I aspire to be, who should I extinguish,

who should I see, who should I tear,

what should I behold...'

The questions continue, and Stone Bones

falls, tired and weary to his hard, empty bed.

Tomorrow, he'll wake up and

be the wisest man ever known.

Tonight, he's just dreaming

of a girl in the snow.

(For Dr. Richard)