Joe Henry Climb
Here lies Billy the Kid, here lies his gun— here lies The Light of the World
As quick as the dead
As gone as the sun;
Raised like a tent now
Where heads bow, are bent down to a gypsy moth roosting home— a heart to be consumed
By hunger alone
Here lies the way I knew how to harbor my mind— there rolls a ship of the sea
Steady as she goes
Determined to climb:
To fly like a kite above
The near and the near enough
Tugging your arms through their sleeves— a heart needing only to feel
What hunger believes
What I loved loved me back, let me go— met my stare, heard me out
Sang to me
What I couldn't know;
Here lies the best of us
And here stand the rest of us: dying, trying not to let on—
A heart surrendering everything hunger has won
Here lies Billy the Kid, here lies his gun— here lies The Light of the World
As quick as the dead
As gone as the sun
