Mercy Bound

Late last night I awoke in a dream
To the sound of a voice that was almost a scream
From out of the city and out of the street
Out where the wind hits the cold concrete
It's cold outside
Darkness your enemy
No place to hide
The voice said this to me
In your doorways I have shivered
In your alleys I have gone to ground
But I will be delivered
Someday I will be mercy bound
I dreamed again it was West LA
On a crowded street on a hot summer day
She was alone
Three months late and beginning to show
In a midriff blouse she would soon outgrow
She had no one to call and no way home
And in my mind I knew I'd seen myself
But in our blindness it always seems like someone else
There I was a rag a bone
A remnant in your lost and found
I was for once truly alone
Longing to be mercy bound
And I knew that I would wander
As a child in the forest till they found me
And I called out to them but could not penetrate
The silence all around me
And when I wake I know you'll comfort me
And I won't sleep again for an eternity
But others lie awake at night
In desperation more profound
And the coming of the morning light
Will not see them mercy bound
And some will never dream again
From sleeping on the ground
Longing to belong
And dying to be mercy bound
Oh please don't stop your dreaming
Someday we'll all be mercy bound