Analysis of Cassi's Song

The only light I ever knew
Was lampposts on the boulevards
Where angels go get tested
Where tattoos are battle scars

These passions burn inside like coal
This tiny cold black heart
This coal mine yields no diamonds
This air makes breathing hard

Hide the candles under shadows
Hide the beacons on the hills
We burn all of our brilliance
Just to pay electric bills

The only angels I ever knew
Never flew among the stars
It's not that they didn't want to
They just never got that far

How will your wings ever raise you
With your knees stuck to the ground
Where every pound of flesh ground down
Wholesales fifty cents a pound?

Hide the candles under shadows
Hide the beacons on the hills
We burn all of our brilliance
Just to pay electric bills

The only memories I knew
Were buried under track marks
The flame applied upon the spoon
The only vision in the dark

The only saviors that I knew
Were backseat angels in the night
Backalley cherubs in the bars
Doing battle with the light

Hide the candles under shadows
Hide the beacons on the hills
We burn all of our brilliance
Just to pay electric bills

The undying flame is keeping on
A mausoleum in the night
The angels gather, weeping on
That fine dark line 'tween dusk and light

Down at the local rectory
Candles burn away our sin
The precious days just melt away
Like so much paraffin

Hide the candles under shadows
Hide the beacons on the hills
We burn all of our brilliance
Just to pay electric bills

© John Kennan 1-14-19