Faded Destroyer

Stealthy as a stag,

Careful as my dad in his garage

I got you into bed

you smelled like cigarettes and rosewater

And in this post-connection climate,

you go asking what my sign is

When I tell you that's not science,

you get out of bed

At a temple in the badlands,

outside a city in the slabs,

I felt every prayer that was ever prayed on my behalf

and said my own:

Don't give up on me!

When I was out on tour,

for forty years or more (is how it felt)

my friends were better sports

as I tried to cram the LORD into their throats

Doing right by my employer?

Or becoming the Destroyer?

My mother sits embroidering her scriptures

While at a temple in the badlands,

outside a city in the slabs,

I felt every prayer that was ever prayed on my behalf

and said my own:

Don't give up on me

At a temple in the badlands,

I prayed