Lights Are Extinguished Even To Ashes Poem by Mark Heathcote

Lights are extinguished even to ashes
Long before we are born
Their surfaces can melt like a mercy dream
It's a passage to another realm you scorn
Where I'm already the dust film
Turning neon blue, honey
I'm a rainbow, can't you smile for me
As I dance for you all wet and see-through.

Like a genie in an uncapped bottle unseen
Lights turn to ashes even before we're dead
Honey, now you've smoked your last rolled fags
What the corolla can I do for you?
When strong liquor is no longer a health-free hazard
Love, what can I do for you?
When everything is like a Turner painting prize
In an astral-neon haze, what can I do for you?
Love, what can I do for you?

Girls, they once made me sad and mean
Girls, uncurl your painted toes and cry for me
My winding sheet is an ultraviolet cloud
And that thunder under your breath
It's getting dark
As it crashes on in on my heart, unheard
Honey, I'm a fish out of water, flapping to breathe
But now lights are extinguished to ashes
Before, even they were born to be
And yet, for the first time, I feel free.