When your sacred task
has been stripped bare
to a thread of breath

when the blood of lambs
is everywhere
and there’s nothing left

when the wolf is handed
the uniform
of the judge and clerk

when the best I’ve known
are in the grave
or out of work


I won’t let you down
I’ll write your name
in a holy place
I will not back down
I’ll be the light
upon your face


when the masculine
has overcome
the feminine

when your friends are called
to the tracks at night
and hope is thin

when a father weeps
beside his son’s dear face
and the body’s still

when our history sleeps
forgets itself
on that ruined hill


I won’t let you down
I’ll write your name
in a holy place
we will be love’s restoration
and I will be love’s face


when the planet’s wound
is a darker blood
that won’t un-stain
I’ll remember you in a photograph
from another time
from another place


I won’t let you down
I’ll write your name
in a holy place
I will not back down
I’ll be the light
upon your face


when death’s long fingers
unsew the seam
of the social cloth

when bankers and statesmen
mark the worker
as an acceptable loss

when you never had a chance to say goodbye
when you’re gasping for air
in the charcoal night

when you’re hoping for the truth but you’re fed a toxic lie
when there’s no one in the room to hold you tight


I won’t let you down
I’ll write your name
in a holy place
I will not back down
I’ll be the light
upon your face


when the girl on the wind boat
sings a song of hope
but her words are blown away

when the new world waits to be born
but that world is
still far away

I guess we’re all secrets to ourselves
there’s a map hidden in the garden
to disinter

we are instruments of mercy and of suffering
we’re the disease
and we’re the cure


I won’t let you down
I’ll write your name
in a holy place
I will not back down
I’ll be the light
upon your face