Mango Walk

if we can find our way through the machine
others may follow and their eyes be clear
the clouds will break and the bright stars appear
we'll all rejoice and see how much is clean
after so long not knowing what you mean
all will be pleasant in the open air
you'll put aside all anger and all fear
and we'll forget the dark places between
while in the meadow we watch children dance
all of the ages come into our view
so much is signalled by a passing breeze
those were the realms given by evil chance
but now we see the world made wise and new
and for a time we seem to be at ease

if we could find a way to lay the ghost

of all our horrid memories and fears

leave it behind in the forgotten years

it would be something of a noble boast

instead we find we still are at the post

responsible for the most ancient cares

and sunk so deeply in those old affairs

that all must know that we are truly toast

there's nothing here left to allay the greed

that drove so many of our culture mad

instead we work hard to build up desire

for all the things that no one has to need

since full possession never made one glad

and all of us must go into the fire

before you can be clear out of the game
rules must be altered to reflect the fact
that justice is a matter not exact
since we define it as a changing flame
we do not ask you for a chance at fame
but to restore our hope and heart intact
that is our only treaty the last pact
we want to make in our most sacred name
those given meanings never seem to change
though we force all our anger into sight
as time itself becomes a petty toy
we make the world seem better and more strange
in our desire to hold back the long night
our greatest need the short moment of joy

you write so many words that you forget
just how to say them in so plain a mode
that when you utter speech upon the road
your purpose and your meaning are both set
in structure and in form your only debt
has been to those who do not share the load
but who with you have understood the code
and now will not have reason to regret
all of the symbols add to one more fine
instance of what you do not understand
and all the blossoms speak with golden glow
the hope of summer is all in the shine
you reach and learn all that is in each hand
yet find that there is so much still to know

under the cloud each silent seeker waits
to hear just how the garden must be made
not only in such matters of old trade
are there to be discussions and debates
enough is given us to fill our plates
and there's no need for fancy or parade
not one of us would want to be afraid
of what plain urgency ever dictates
there is a time for all of us to shout
our anger to the skies and then to fall
upon our swords in passion at the last
moment before the wolves can first step out
that long second as shadows first grow tall
and then the action just becomes too fast

in rain and mist we leave cows to the grass
and hide our faces in the profane word
that we make sacred by our own absurd
sense and desire what is seen through the glass
now becomes what we name the lower class
but in this weather all our sight is blurred
and the full truth has not yet been conferred
so all that we can say is what the raas
give us a voice and we deny the sight
but what true explanation fills this need
unless we can receive the better fire
we need to have things locked up before night
set up the barriers that have been decreed
and have no time to tune the fucking lyre

so much is needed before the first clean blow
of all the blooms that can be made by art
each one who does their proper honest part
becomes an element of the full show
so much of action needed when we go
out into summer watching blue birds dart
into the fringing forests of the heart
that we are stunned by how much that we know
let wisdom summon the first witness now
and lead the dance that makes us all rejoice
so vision makes the upward path so plain
for all who take the steps these rules allow
and let their energies have fullest voice
as they have entered upon true terrain