Blade, Unplugged

V7

Tim Seibles 2012

  1. It’s true: I almost never
    smile, but that doesn’t mean

  2. I’m not    in love: my heart
    is that black violin
    played slowly. You know that

  3. moment late in the solo
    when the voice
    is so pure    you feel
    the blood in it: the wound

  4. between rage
    and complete surrender. That’s
    where I’m smiling. You just
    can’t see it—the sound

  5. bleeding perfectly
    inside me. The first time
    I killed a vampire    I was

  6. sad: I mean
    we were almost
    family.

  7. But that’s
    so many lives
    ago. I believe

  8. in the cry that cuts
    into the melody, the strings
    calling back the forgotten world.

  9. When I think of the madness
    that has made me    and the midnight
    I walk inside—all day long:

  10. when I think of that
    one note    that breaks
    what’s left of what’s
    human in me, man,

  11. I love    everything