Lotus

(Anastasio/Marshall)

A tiny dot behind the sun
Now fills the sky, is this the one?
Move aside, I’m packing light
Heaven’s calling, space is tight

Blood pumps through veins, lava flows quite the same
With no beating heart left to feed on the flame
Pieces of shattered art slide through the square
Count from the right, they speak abacus there

Globes flying by, a random glint strikes my eye
Reflections of the people inside
Their skin seems to shine, memories are left behind
I raise my hand, can I grab a ride?

A tiny dot behind the sun
Now fills the sky, is this the one?
Move aside, I’m packing light
Heaven’s calling, space is tight

Count up all the dots, there’s no time to waste
The comets come circling around for a taste
They feel us from deep in space, sensing their chance
Most brush on by, too confused by the dance

We’re moving fast
This is our time
People will be left behind
Around their feet are growing vines
Worlds are strung out side by side
Jump to the next one waiting in line

A tiny dot behind the sun
Now fills the sky, is this the one?
Move aside, I’m packing light
Heaven’s calling, space is tight

A lotus pedal in the wind, a blossom in the stream
The morning dew falls on my face and wakes me from my dream

It was a land not far from here where everyone was glass
I saw right through their bodies, but they would not let me pass

They told me to abandon hope, to wish it was a mistake
Their hopelessness was very clear, but I remained opaque
The more I reached beyond them, as I tried to slither past
The harder they would push me until I gave up at last
But then I saw beneath my skin through veins and through my bones
As my body turned to glass, they left me there alone

Just as my last ray of hope attempted to depart
A flower in the breeze awoke the beating of my heart
I reached with my transparent hand and pulled it from the air
And suddenly a council made of glass was standing there

My color had returned again
And clearly I was not like them
Underneath a lotus tree
Was where my trial was meant to be

My crime was I did not renounce
The hope that they all lived without
Their evidence was my lone flower
Which strengthened me and gave me power

The verdict came with no delay
I was guilty, I should pay
Before the sentencing could be
I ran and shook the lotus tree

The blossoms fell around like snow
Upon the heads of those below
Screams rang out as bodies scattered
Flowers fell and people shattered

The flowers they could not withstand
Reduced their glassy forms to sand
And soon a blissful silence fell
Upon the sandy lotus knell

A wind came up and gently blew the pedals all around
A lightly falling mist then rinsed the sand into the ground

I watched the pedals flutter by and land upon the stream
I raised my face and let the water wash my body clean

A tiny dot behind the sun
Now fills the sky, is this the one?
Move aside, I’m packing light
Heaven’s calling, space is tight