him - and you...

you have seen my naked heart

clad only in the sins of my past

remnants of the devil's lambaste

and you turned away not

you have tasted the dark green bile

spit from the belly of my severed soul

splotches of satan's soiree

and it reviled you not

you have borne witness to the atrocities

acted against the innocents by my dark twin

leaving the pieces to be buried again

and it frightened you not

you have felt the screams of my victims

wrenched from the hollow of my own heart

slivers of silent offenses

and you shrank back not

and he

he who has lived the golden life

who has never slept with the slick black steel

he would forgive me

and love me still

     but he would know me not

but you

you have walked the shadow streets

streets worn by my footprints

you would see no need to forgive

and would love me still

you would love me then in all my sins

     you would know me now

even then

atonement...

littered with memory’s remains

days fill with my heart’s black rain
 

nights now bound in love’s cold chains
 

life goes on the gods ordain

life without you lived in vain

sweet relief...

somethin’s comin' over me
smotherin’ my soul
don’t know what it can be

like a big wooley blanket
on a hot summer night
it lays on me and hugs me tight

holdin’ me down
pullin’ me under
think I’m gonna drown

like a river of steam
on a sunshiny day
rainin’ its heat as i pray

try to be good
whatever you sow so shall you reap
and sweet relief don’t come cheap
               
somethin’s come over me
stainin’ my spirit
and i know what it be

the rest of the story is YOUR story...

who is this beautiful woman?
from where does she come?
who is the black-haired man? 
what is his involvement with her?

what is he thinking?  feeling?

what is she thinking?  feeling?
she is being sent away in bondage - or so it seems - is she?
if she is, what unpardonable sin has she committed -
what law broken that forces her into this exile -
to what and where is she being exiled and for how long -
does this exile include death? -
what is she saying to YOU?

what story do YOU see here?  feel here?
tell us in your comment - and don't be shy!