Dedicated to two brothers, Pat and Kevin Tillman, who, when in Afghanistan, were split up, and then reunited in Pat's death minutes later.
A:
a flash a crack, the dust in my lungs
split from my brother, the day is fast done
i'm here on a rock, doing my best
kinetic rules shared maliciously
newton has no mercy on me
B:
the waiting, the wait, we know we're late
they wouldn't let us go
dragging the dead beast behind
because they told us to
A:
i dismount with two
life life so hard in my mouth
cards filing in my head
will it be now, what will they have said?
the dust makers scramble behind
they are done when i project
all the concentrated pain
that will find them or blind them
B:
we're on the road
in this jagged place
lonely as your gut
trapped in its crevices
blinded by turns
the rounds the rounds
they come in
let us ride out
i see it now
or maybe i do
it can only be them
my heart rises, my eyes to slits
my brain down, the stem almost alone
driving me to the next curve around
the movement in the dusk
can only be
that was hunting, turn the tables
save me
power of a hundred dragons
spitting teeth of scorn
your shape indistinct
but i know what you are
A:
dash
behind the rock
i sit and i turn
the hail coming through the trees
of a world miles ago
where life was a game, and i was the winner
but the hail is now jacketed
malign ice of metal
B:
back on the road
i see the two now
they want to hurt me
i'm close now, i'll move you away
you no stranger here
move out from under my bed
no more tormenting for me
my fingers curl in the magic
that blows you away
A:
i think as i ebb
my time here is done
this is it. it was worth it.
one hurled and saved, the other too late
all undone
was it worth it?
teeth sharp teeth inside me
tu quoque fili mi
gnawing... i'm gone
C:
it can't be that my brother
or one of the others
received the stream
riven the banks of his head
3 impossibly close
it would seem it can't be
i wasn't ahead
i didn't see it
but now the futility of it all
descends like a shroud