Our Hollow, Our Home (2010)

I'll sleep a thousand summers 
Past the brave winter, to the frigid north 
In desolate absence of the southern wind
In this small town where the rain never ceases
And the windows on the houses are still always open
Where there are holes in every wall
With nothing more than sheets to shelter their cold toes
I've found a home here among the refugees
We're all so happy with our creator's hatred

We point our fingers to the sky and say rain
We look upon the ground and proclaim stone
We run to the river and yell flood 
We grip to the trees and whisper willow
For all we know is sadness 
All we have ever known is this town
And though the economy is stable
There is little to export and new immigrants enter daily

A small girl walks and places her muddied hand 
Upon the walls of the town hall
Spelling her late mother's name upon the only white building
Still left in town
The rain beats down and washes clean her hands
But the name remains
Immortalizing itself in the town's history
Slowly we all walk to see the name
And subsequently write one of our own
The walls begin to grow dirtier
And dirtier
Soon the building is filthy
And not a spot of cleanliness can be found

It comes to the point where I look around this town that I call home
And I stare at all the blackened buildings 
And I wonder how many names are written there? 
I wonder how many people look at these homes
And see nothing but terrible memories and pain? 
Those who see all the lost friends and family members within them
Those for whom love was written on the doors and in the hinges
And now these homes are bitter memories
Tainted reminders of happier times

I wish the rain would find a way to wash clean the stains
I wish the rain would find a way to wash clean the stains on me
But every house I see in this town
I can't forget
I can't forget all the happy times now gone
And all that is present is the rain
The rain as it soaks into the walkways of town
As it blocks the sunlight from our lives

I just want to see the sunlight
I just want to see the sunlight as it shone in older times
Back when life was better
Back when the walls were white with purity
When we closed our windows to block the southern wind
And had doors instead of holes in the sidings
I want to see the sunlight as it shone on the sycamores
Before they all slouched in somber remembrance
Of what this town used to mean to its denizens
And along with the trees, in turn followed the inhabitants
Until what you see is our home
As it is now
As we all are now