i didn't even know you but you could have been my brother
you could have been my lover
you could have been my friend
you could have been anyone to die apart from reason
with last rites your only right
in this bitter, frozen land

i didn't even know you but i
i know your silence well
he took my love away from me
she joined him in a quiet hell
he took your life, did he take your pride?
he's the demon curling up inside
the hearts of those who speachless lie
in dark and dirty cells

and i find it hard that you were named
for a man who wrote about the birth
of one who lived a life of protest
crying out for peace on earth
who when tempted by the devil said a thing profoundly odd
that we shall not live by bread alone
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of god
now i don't believe the stories from this book so old it starts to reek
but god is in us every time we bring ourselves to speak

i didn't even know you so i'm feeling pangs of somehow wrong
to martyrdize you, analyze you
with this, a stranger's eulogy
but i'm not blessed with sight divine
the only story i really know is mine
and each word is a small step in my journey to be free

for when i'm singing out this breath
hot syllables to challenge death
it may not warm your tortured skin
like a miracle come much too late
but maybe i can chip away at this ice age of angry pain
replace my fear with burning joy
and weld a molten love out of my hate

i didn't even know you but you could have been my brother
you could have been my lover
you could have been my friend
you are one in too many who have died apart from reason
with last rites your only right
in this bitter, frozen land

copyright Arjuna Greist 1999