Somewhere Unoccupied - Kevin Devine

You got some bad news

You took it face first

Like people often do

No matter how advanced

An enlightened perspective’s no

Safeguard against

A real life

With its nosedives

Its gutter lows

Its sunrise heights

I heard you say

«I'm an acrobat

I cheated death

Now death is cheating back

I thought I might hide out

Become the empty sky

But I had to land

I couldn’t find

Somewhere unoccupied»

You sang in ghost notes:

A second history

A pool of broken code

I felt the moment slide

You were bridging the halves of a great divide

I heard you say

«If there’s an architect

Let’s see the plan

Let’s see who gets it next

I’m sure, sometimes

Except when I’m certain otherwise.»

I felt your hand fold into mine

And I was preoccupied

Felt fleeting & small

Completely surrounded by

The fates of us all

You were the troubled one

But you took me on

You carried me along

I heard you say

«Go be a welcome mat

A sign of home;

An uncomplicated fact

Outside yourself

The whole world is helping someone else

An act of grace, a clearing mind —

Somewhere unoccupied»