Illuminate the Sky
posted 12 Jan 2004 by Krister Axel
Is it enough to taste the salt of the ocean Like some love poem From across the world?

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NOTE: This turned into one of my top songs of all time, and is a good example of what I am talking about when I discuss the difference between poetry and lyric-writing. This is a poem, that later turned into song lyrics.

I have wondered at the gray sky
At the cycles of deceit
And the shattering of mirrors…
Is it enough to taste the salt of the ocean
Like some love poem
From across the world?
Even as my own dreams run slowly
Beneath this printed sunset
They begin to die. This formula
Is not good science. This city has forgotten
Itself. The winter rains
The Mississippi, front porches
The path beyond the self
With fire and plastic
Replacing the mosquitoes.
I opened my veins
Blood is life is progress
And this cluttered slope feels
Like a prison
Like a woman’s flesh
A mountain of sugar
A long shortcut

I woke up today and my voice was
Older than my heart
Which carries a new scar
The image of a better place.
Let me see the earth dressed
For the seasons.
Let me see passion
In the spectrum of time
We replace the impossible
With the same wicked fever
That has burned heaven
to the ground.
Tonight I watch angels
Illuminate the sky

K Axel (011204)


About the Author

content

Krister Bjornson Axel

Ogdensburg, New York

Paris, France. Madison, Wisconsin. Los Angeles. Ashland, Oregon. Ottawa. I write music, I write about music, and I write code. See also: photography, prose, podcasting. I have 1 gorgeous wife, 2 amazing kids, and many interests.


Recent Awards: 2020 ND (Photo) Honorable Mention, 2020 Accenti Writing Contest Finalist