street lights

we keep standing
beneath diamond street lights
hoping for something more
something to remove us from
the carpet where we've grown
accustomed and willing to
stretch out every second as
if they were tough oysters
yet we're too weak to
break them open so we
never get to that secret pearl

i've seen holy ghosts
collide with dance in
removed churches crunched
away in city streets
the avenues housed these
stories of us
and i've retold them
countless times in
countless lines of labled
rhyme and lore
each time you grow more
massive and towering over
sleep, you break nightmares
over hidden dusk

and i wish these street lights
would give out one evening
so we could see our souls
shining in the evening mist
hollowglow with orange vapor
and thunder dripping off
of our fingertips
exposing it all for
what it really is