Ten Thousand

Ten-thousand glimmering like coals in our chest Ball bearings drawn to the magnetic breath Of ten-thousand weeping with wings on their tears Amidst ten-thousand voices for ten-thousand years For ten-thousand graves yawning unlocked and unlatched Now ten-thousand holes with rocks on their backs Ten-thousand tombs gaping wide singing the praise Of ten-thousand bodies unlaced and unlaid As the ten-thousand highways unfold their doors For the ten-thousand standing on Nineveh's shores Where the blood of a husband silences wars For the girl who rises to meet him And she sings World, I have overcome you World, I have overcome you World, I have overcome By my song and the blood of a son Ten-thousand rivers Run red like my veins Where the bones of men hum Like a rattling cage For sinew to cling to And wind to remain In ten-thousand lungs For ten-thousand days Breathing like a choir Of holes in the ground Where the cynical have lain Where the cynical go down Save the gravity of time Lets go of her drowned Like ten-thousand sparrows Unlocked and unwound As the ten-thousand highways unfold their doors For the ten thousand standing on Nineveh's shores Where the blood of a husband silences wars For the girl who rises to meet him And she sings World, I have overcome you World, I have overcome you World, I have overcome By my song and the blood of a son