You can’t preach to the choir
You can’t have them losing their minds
Over
Something, without enough Jesus Christ.

Bring out the chapel, bring on the flight attendants
Thank God when you fly over New Orleans
Thank God when you fly over Bordeaux, France
Thank God when you dance in a circle.


Come back around, come back to town.
You’ve been gone so long,

i wouldn’t say, i would never admit
that i’ve forgotten your favourite expressions
but the fingernail impressions
the finely carved out sequence of scars,
the i-seventyfive made of vines,
all the wet paint,

You should have been here
you leaver,
you, goodbye without goodnights
you flashflood shadow,
you escape artist,
I didn’t even hear the floorboards creak

Now you are elsewhere
You are elsewhere
You went there

You went there
& there
& there
& there

you are everywhere but here
you left the choir
you left the songs.
You left the all night longs.

I would hate to say that I miss you this much, but the stack of napkins
the dehydrated matchbooks
the scribble outlining, the finger paintings that got out of control
the walls of your aunts house,
The walls of the living room.



Everything, even the porch swing has your shape beat into it.

The wind took care of that, well, the rain and the wind.

And now, it’s official,
You are your own airline,
You are never here

You are the depth in the arctic ocean I can’t touch
You are the pink cloud in the sky I can’t sink.

I can never think.
Thank God, thank Jesus, thank the Lord,
You’re on your way to another way,

You’re taking over Nova Scotia, you’re the last person on earth.

You’re everywhere but here,
You’re not in my face,
You’re not on the right side of the queen.

You’re everywhere but here,
You can’t preach to the choir,
You can’t have them losing their lyrics

Over something without enough Jesus Christ.

You are worth the wait, you aren’t worth the time.

You are half of the years of my life. You’re complicated.
You’re everywhere but here.

You belong here, you need the sermon.
You need the sacrifice. You need me twice.


You’re everywhere but here,
They want you there.

You’re everywhere but here.
You’re everywhere but here.
Everywhere but here.
Everywhere but here.
But here.
But here.


Here.
Here.
Here.
Here.

Here.

10/22/2009

Author's Note: another perspective, if these were my thoughts, they'd be mine

Posted on 10/23/2009
Copyright © 2024 Steven Kenworthy