A Thousand Breaths

There's a thousand whispers in the wind tonight

and a thousand breaths in the cave;

there's a thousand miles to be crossed, tonight,

and a thousand words left to say.

There's a journey, a journey that must be taken

and a path that has no end-

a cleft in every stone you cross

and a pitfall 'round every bend.

***

I'd follow you over the mountaintops

and into the midnight sea,

I'd follow you under the twilight rays

of a nightmare American dream.

I'd follow the dust trails left by your boots

into neon and nature the same;

I'd stand with my back to the future,

and I'd spend it calling your name.

***

I'd walk with you until my clothes don't fit me anymore,

and I'd put my foot between you and their judgement-slamming door,

I'd work with you until our sweat shines on the hardwood floor,

and I'd use my best diplomacy to stop your mental war.

I'd do it all a thousand times,

in a thousand different ways,

if I could take away your anguish,

if I could take away your pain.

***

There's a thousand whispers in the wind tonight,

and a thousand lies in your ear.

There's a thousand pounds on the scale tonight,

and a thousand ways to shift gear.

There's a voyage, a voyage that frightens me

beyond the tides of belief-

a bow that fails to breach the waves

and a colorless coral reef.

***

Your lungs expand, the summer air doesn't feel the way it did

when we rolled under the powerlines in style.

The heated sand, the beachy flair we loved when we were kids

has disappeared, decayed and been defiled.

But I won't take my iron grip

away from your cold hand,

and I won't let my patience slip

or give a cruel command.

I'll stand with you, my warrior, until you fight again.

***

There's a thousand whispers in the wind tonight,

but none of them reach my ears-

all I can hear is silence,

and all I can see is tears.

There's a thousand breaths in the cave tonight,

but yours is all I can hear-

all I can do is support you,

and all I can fight is fear.