When Words Can't

Is it possible to claim your innocence

standing by, exposed in consequence

Silent is the shot gun rider

living life, as the outsider

*

The date was set

nowhere to turn

The mind forgets

the spirit burns

*

Payback for wrongs

choices were made

The final song

the cards were played

*

Dripping with guilt

anguish and pride

The walls must be rebuilt

when trust has died

*

When eyes connect

where do tears hide

Aftereffects

can't be denied

*

Experience taught us, hurt and pain

survival birthed defense

Nothing to stop this fast-running train

when fear outlasts all commonsense

*

They banished the blows

no-one else could have seen

Everything that we know

was inhumane and obscene

*

Your hands pressed to my lips

we spoke not a word

Choices harder than bricks

can't undo things that we heard

*

Forgiveness required

but no-one will ask

The cause is expired

our hands committed the task

*

No-one can know

we hide the secret away

Deep down in the water

where the bitterness lays

*

My eyes saw your pain

your heart felt my bruise

With no other way

we had nothing to lose

*

We gaze out the windows

all covered in dew

We dangle in limbo

silently, me and you

*

The trees seem to be weeping

as they watch us pass by

The moon is timekeeping

as the mocking bird cries

*

Two small broken spirits

trying to take it all back

If we confess, no-one will hear it

it is the words that we lack

*

Banished to the silence

too afraid to speak up

Punished for defiance

completely ran, out of luck

*

A house with no home

a family of excuses

Two children left all alone

punching bags, full of bruises

*

The smell of the dirt

still remains in our noses

As we dispose of the hurt

cut by the thorns on the roses

*

The chill in the air

matches the chill, up our spines

The water's splash, dare

our expressions, benign

*

Droplets drip off our faces

as the shadow grows dim

Adopted for tears as they trace,

tarnished our skin

*

We paddle to shore

nothing but sounds of the water

You use the tip of the oar

lambs returned from the slaughter

*

Innocence, dead and gone

but the shells still remain

Ashamed of what we have done

words just get in the way

*

The radio plays

as we travel along

Everything we would say

plays through the words in the song

*

And I see your hands tremble

with your hands on the wheel

And your sobs are so gentle

I can feel what you feel

*

The rhythm of the wipers

help to pass along time

The silence a sniper

self-defense was our crime

*

We pull into the drive

with ne'er a light on

Survival still alive

the sun bringing the dawn

*

I take your hand

as we start up the stairs

forgiveness or damned

we will ask, in our prayers

*

Into the darkness

we take our first step

Surrounded by silence

secrets kept to the death

*

Sitting together, still, all alone

no words can un- say

Can't un-throw the stone

while we're hiding in gray