while I'm living here
I should make things clear
you're free to watch
as I try to change my whole life
forgetting everything isn't easy
surgery will alter me
but not my memories

I want to have been alive
to relive '97, '86, '75
another continent supplied by the ocean
there is a beautiful face
in a long-dead place
and I can reach him when I like

hunger just angers me
so many envy me
I can boil down to nothing
while they simmer but can't lift the lid
losing everything isn't easy
change manipulates me
but not my mind

you are most certainly
welcome to watch as I
break each finger off
you are permitted to be
within ten feet of me
if you'll help tear my lungs apart

I want to be alive
in times that have lived and died
another border change shatters the globe
there is a beautiful face
in a long-dead place
and I can reach him if I aim high.

© Jess Zelhart, 2006. Thou shalt not steal.