Alibis in a Time of Mercury

Ambulance sounds on Sunday mornings
Where sky turns black in framed societies
Watched tight-lipped nuns exchange rosaries before city steps
And children ran into traffic heedlessly
Pursued by the things that only children can see
We wanted to build a bigger vessel to traverse this strange canvas
Where toothless sweaty men string dead animals
Over the walls of empty parking lots
Where we bring out the dead one more time
To say that we still love them
In all our betrayals
Wanted to kiss those convicted lips
And touch that borrowed skin
Wanted to tell her that it was wrong
That it is going to get dirty
When we find new ways
Of cheating ourselves