Amal (pt. ii)

Stop the eyes from shutting

I’ll play this song louder — awake

Stop this black bird’s cajoling

I know the blood is blue — expired

The doors of heaven creak open

Ready to host your joy, your bleak

(You are on your way, end of endings)

Chant with me, kids, keep it lyrical

Hope is everywhere, but in death — give me a miracle

(You can)

There, your memories, tulips and burning lucky fuel

There, the coXin, its homey soil, the rosewater and chilli oil

The reel of your life, light and shadows on their walls

We’ll post your picture and caption-capture this grief

There, your car keys and meds

And you loved mangoes

(You are on your way, end of endings)

Chant with me, kids, keep it lyrical

Hope is everywhere, but in death — heaven, give me a miracle

(You can)

Stop the sun its rising

Curtail the wind its dancing

Shut down the urban construction site

Constipate the clouds, no raining

Deny the volcanoes their orange orgasm

Push the ballerina mid pirouette

(You can’t)

(You can’t)

(You can’t)

(You can’t)

(You can’t)

(You can’t)

The deed of this town is in your name

The streets and your foot in concrete

The dust in your room, oh, the dust

They say you went out to fetch some smokes

Stamp the ‘cancelled’ on your passport in red

No more a chain-of-documents occupant

No more a passenger, just a passerby, just passed

And we’ll put your toothbrush in a ziplock

In a drawer

In a chest of remembrance

In our chests

When tongues can’t do the jobAnd alphabets aren't melancholy enough

Because this is irrevocable, so hope is confused

But this town belongs to you

And you it

And dust is never created nor destroyed

And neither were you

And neither are we

So, we cry

Some carry on

Some crippled

But it lurks somewhere in the cobblestone, it lurks

Just not for you

(You are on your way, end of endings)

Chant with me, kids, keep it lyrical

Hope is everywhere, but in death — please, give me a miracle

(You can)

There you are, I remember your name it rhymes with —

No, rhyme is but for the living

All is forgiven

Towns and cities you’ve known, know you still

See, architecture remembers and humans sing

So, go on, leave an imprint somewhere new, leave it in the key of hope.

(You are on your way, begin again)

Chant with me, kids, keep it lyrical

Amal is everywhere, and we’re still here — what a miracle