In the red budding of love Forgot we even had blood Sea of roses calls our bluff Sea of horses rose to meet us In the circle of signs Salt our time Buoyant, fine In the rise Of every woman, man, creature, tide, child Licking their wounds to see if they're still wild In this reckless, generational dive Licking at our friends Who we’re trying to revive An incomprehensible weight of the times Most pivotal, honorable, to be alive And she burns California’s turn Will we ever learn? Here in the circle of pines All eyes turn to whites Pile of our insides Nothing, nothing left to hide With prophesy, prayer & sacrament the youth will rise Still—lynchings, screen addictions, evilness, lies What will it take Do we even need to survive? Is this birth canal too tight For that star-swaddled consciousness To come earthside? An incomprehensible weight of the times Most pivotal, honorable, to be alive My love burns Will he ever return? California, I’m yours To ashes my heart’s turned To ashes our hearts turn So, just put them to rest In uncertainty’s urn Forgive us for each chance We refused to learn Book of the old ways— Earth, Water, Seed, still turns But we will pay For every page burned