MAN DID NOT BUILD THE WORLD (& HE WILL NOT DESTROY IT)

It was coming down hard, it was coming down quick.

It was coming out in colors, it tore apart your spirit.

It was harder than pain, even harder to give up.

And it never went away & it’s never gonna stop.

Like a radio in your head, like a tomb in a ditch,

Man did not build this world & he will not destroy it.

You could kiss it goodbye, hear its footsteps in the wind.

It was coming like a sacrifice, it didn’t have an end.

It was empty as a judge that on justice quits,

But it was ordinary like a corpse is beyond dead.

Like a star on fire, like earth lost in its orbit,

Man did not build this world & he will not destroy it.

It was clearer than diamonds, closer than a twin.

It was always out there, it was deeper than in.

It was easy to lose it, but foolish if you did.

It was difficult at times, it was you that kept it hid.

Like a circus in your heart, like an unknown witness,

Man did not build this world & he will not destroy it.

June 1995

from Walking thru Hell Gazing at Flowers

Copyright © 1996 by Jim Cohn