i was 27 years old
when I sold my soul
fragile
skeletal
returning to
blackened utero

(i reached out
for eden's
rotten apples)

don't follow
this prophet
as I strum
down
deceitful rivers
decadent,
dead-locked
and dead-set
to blaze out,
not fade away --
Youth Eternal:
white like bleach
and ancient bones