Strength and Pride


My father has grey eyes
My mother has pale skin
My sister has red hair
I, myself, am thin and fair

Way out beyond the field
Way out beyond the track
I swear to god if you cut us
I swear to god we bleed black

We share secrets deep
And souls of mud
And just beneath the skin
We share a dark, dark blood

Hear the waters run with fever
And hate grows amongst the weeds
A murder thrives amongst the trees

The rain it smells of gasoline
Amongst the forest black and loam
The flowers writhe and scream

My father’s hands are viscous
My mother’s teeth are sharp
My sister’s nimble fingers
Deftly tie the knot
And I, myself, am thin and dumb
But my eyes are sharp as knife points
When my prey begins to run

Are secrets are stained with powder burns
From pistols that we shot
We stand up tall and ugly
When the wind begins to rot
For our birthright’s filth and mud
Just beneath the skin
We share a dark, dark blood


The river’s choked up with bones here
And fear grows amongst the weeds
And the black trees keep the secrets
Of the bodies in the leaves

Their hands are bound with twine
Their heads are wrapped in sheets

The sun decays and radiates
An awful evil heat

There is no greed within us
We only kill what we can eat

In the wicket heat
All things must die
And bloat and split and burst
Among these ripe and fetid things
It’s man who stinks the worst

There is strength and pride
Amongst me and mine
There’s death in the day
And death in the night time
Out here among the slash pines
The moon is drowned in mud
And just beneath the skin
We share a dark, dark, blood