East for salvation

"turn your eyes and ears
without for revolution
within for revelation
East for salvation"

from an incomplete song I wrote, circa 1986



music pumped my lifeblood
my friends walked the ground
that I worshiped
food, an unfailing comfort
romance, I sacrificed for self-study
through marijuana

I tripped the wire that year
an inner depth charge erupted
my life broke free

my mind, unraveling
thick with wet sand
my head, dangling
by a strand

the only things that survived that shock
were an addiction to God
and a trek on a dry desert path
to some undisclosed
abode of awakening

where Stan and Ed
U2 and R.E.M.
my shiny, new elephant bowl
and adequate nutrition
could not follow