Death is on Everybody’s Side

What do you have to offer the faithful?

The malt liquor light

That surrounds you

On this August afternoon

These golden brown hues

Is like a halo

In the doorway

Of Mission Santa Inez

On the California coast

Two perfect glistening teardrops

And your sad eyes

Are like the arc welding flash

Of a burning electrode

On pot iron

Crackling and popping

Then stopping and dropping

Beads of molten iron and alloy

At my feet

I am a man undone

Your scars are my dreams

A bruised peach is twice as sweet

When it hits the kitchen floor

I’ll lace you up homegirl

Nice and tight

I’m a devil with a small D

Your despair, my epiphany

Inez, come with me

Helen had nothing on you

And Troy was laid at her feet

The broken marble columns

The smoke filled skies

La Santa’s grinning visage

And coal black eyes

Like a dowry