He patrolled the New York subway, the Q train, Broadway Line From 96th on down to Coney Isle His superhero mask was red, a pair of underwear with rubber boots and cape a kitchen towel He knew the nightly riders, called them all by name And they made sure his nightly fare was paid While his history was hidden, his origins obscure On a ragged subway seat a New York hero he was made If angry words were thrown against two women holding hands Or a homeless man was kicked and put to shame If someone in a turban was pushed around and cursed His eyes would flash and loudly he'd exclaim I am the Midnight Commander! I am the Flame, the Beacon in the Night I am the Midnight Commander Put aside your hatred, and set aside your fear For the Midnight Commander is here Yes, the Midnight Commander is here Now everyone he challenged, they felt his gentle power And they'd falter in their anger and their pain Standing quiet, wondering, at the seasons of the heart And an old man in pajamas on the train And the riders of the subway, the Q train, Broadway line Stood proud and tall when he would pass them by They'd smile at one another and give a mighty cheer Whenever they would hear his ringing cry I am the Midnight Commander! I am the Flame, the Beacon in the Night I am the Midnight Commander Put aside your hatred, and set aside your fear For the Midnight Commander is here Yes, the Midnight Commander is here Now, all good deeds are punished, and someone finally made a call To New York's Metro Clinic with the tale A bedcheck found one empty, the window open wide And footprints headed towards the subway rail So the Lords of Bedlam came, each one dressed in white They found him riding on his nightly fare They called him by his given name, and took away his soul And brought him back to his confused despair But I am the Midnight Commander He said as they gently led him off into the night I am the Midnight Commander Who will keep them from their hatred, and rescue them from fear If the Midnight Commander's not here? Now the New York City subway, the Q train, Broadway line Gallops through the night just like before But at 96th and 2nd all the riders take a stand For New York's Don Quixote was no more And on the empty platform, as the train goes on its way If you listen very closely you can hear the voices say Remember, O remember Don't give in to hatred or to fear Remember, O remember The Midnight Commander was here It started in Manhattan, a single dancing flame It spread to Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn, Staten Island was the same Macy's sold out of red underwear, and rubber boots could simply not be found The words were carved upon the subway walls A thousand voices thundered with their sound And the words said I am the Midnight Commander! I am the Flame, the Beacon in the Night I am the Midnight Commander Put aside your hatred, and set aside your fear For the Midnight Commander is here Yes, the Midnight Commander is here

There's a house about Kirk Michael, out upon the Irish Sea Where it's written on the doorways, where the windows used to be That all who come inside, will be tucked in for a lovely evening tea There's a house about Kirk Michael, and it's tilted on its side Drunk upon the tempest, surrounded by the tides But solid of Byzantium, where candled windows and the dark collide There's a house about Kirk Michael, and it's full of sleepy bears And a dozen shabby tigers, who pounce upon the stairs While out along the widow's walk, Joe Strummer singing with the Mescalers And well about Kirk Michael, is a child who loves the dogs And one who plants her flowers, from the garden catalogs And one who builds her dragons hidden softly in the heavy autumn fogs Only heroes dare the kitchens Pies and puddings on the walls and floor It's my favorite mystery These pages of our history There's a house about Kirk Michael, and in it I will die I'll leave it for the children, with the windows open wide Those poets and their patchwork quilted boats to set them free These fragments have I shored against my ruin And love shall not be lost, in that summer-flower house beside the sea

The full moon barely had arose, it looked down through the trees The wind on mouse feet crept along, among the fallen leaves And William rode his lonely way, beside a murmuring sea Upon a twilight shore of Wales, it was All Hallows Eve And thought he of his own sweetheart, he did not hear the horn That sounded faintly far behind, from beyond the bourne But soon he heard the pounding hooves, that shook the very ground And with a mighty rushing wind, the riders ringed him 'round Their eyes shone in the bladed night, the smelled of earth and air With voices like a howling wind, their faces cruel and fair And for to ride on Hallows Eve, demanded they their toll And gave him then a race to win, for his life and soul Ride young William, ride tonight Elfland's on your trail To take your soul, if you should lose Upon the shores of Wales Then came to him a midnight horse, whose rider wore a crown And gazing at him with a smile, bade him to step down A steed as red as blood or gold, was given to his rein A faerie mount to match my own, evens out the game Know you, sir, the Gallows Oak, that overlooks the sea A league or more straight on from here, that our goal shall be And if you win home you shall go, free from curse or pain But if I catch you, mine you'll be, and come not home again Then William bravely up and cried, these terms be far from fair I stand to lose my own dear soul, and you not one small hair A blacksmith now by trade I am, your risk must match my own I'll forge your soul into my swords, and steel shall be your home Ride young William, ride tonight Elfland's on your trail To take your soul, if you should lose Upon the shores of Wales So be it, cried the Midnight King, to yours I pledge my soul They brought their horses side by side, and faced them towards the goal And faster than the wind they flew, William rode the storm And behind them came the Elven host, winding on their horns The wind danced softly on the sand, it whispered through the leaves The moon sat veiled in tangled cloud, and sank down through the trees And William's horse walked slow and cold, beside a murmuring sea Upon an empty shore of Wales, it was All Hallows Eve

A stormy Sunday morning, the rain was pouring down So I took refuge in the library up town There I sulked and fretted, like an angry child Until one of the librarians sat next to me and smiled He was tall and he was handsome, and his smile was like the sun He said "I think you need some help, you're looking rather glum" I hesitated briefly, then opened up my soul And told him why I wandered through the wet and cold I said I am looking for heroes Light to drive the dark away, a Superman to save the day But all the skies are emptiness and grey Ordinary, every day, nine to five with bills to pay Captain Marvel's far away Tell me, where have all the heroes gone? Everything's a story, change the story, change the world And here you'll find the answer to the question you have hurled There's no more fertile soil for the heroes that we need Than all the stories gathered here for everyone to read For this is where the Hero's Journey starts Every word on every page will guide a growing heart Now flying through the sky, that sounds like fun But heroes are in everyone, not the few, not the one Love and justice daily done Here's the secret that your quest has won Heroes are not born they are honestly made By the sweat of their brow, and the tools of their trade Sometimes with iron, and sometimes with steel But always with love and the courage to feel The labors of Hercules close to their breast Day in and day out with no room to rest They look just like you and they look just like me With their capes tucked up neatly for no one to see Well I sat there bewildered, I sat there perplexed Don't heroes all wear leather and spandex If what he was saying was true and was right Heroes might be everywhere, hidden in plain site And then there came a voice by our knees A very young boy said "Mr. Kent help me please! My mother said you'd tell me where to look To find this very special book, all about the dinosaurs, with lots of color pictures, mostly from the late Cretaceous but before to the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary event because that's the best part of the Mesozoic era when Tyrannosaurus Rex and Quetzelcoatlus were around and they are so totally cool!! Mr. Kent help me please? "Now that I can do!" cried the man as he rose Pointing the child towards the books that he chose He winked as he passed and I saw on his chest Under his shirt the red shape of an S Heroes are not born they are honestly made By the sweat of their brow, and the tools of their trade Sometimes with iron, and sometimes with steel But always with love and the courage to feel

My lover was a sailor Slept in the belly of cold steel ships my lover was a sailor no harbor could she find Held in place by angled lines, two ahead, none behind forgotten by her shipmates ghosts upon the sand My lover was a sailor She sleeps in the belly of nightmare dreams my lover was a sailor no harbor can she find Ahab's gaze and wooden leg, St. Elmo's fire, in her head, she takes the night watch upon the razor's edge My lover was a sailor Sails upon a stormy sea My lover was a sailor no harbor could she find Stares at shadows on the walls, speak to them, and haunts the halls looking for a shadows ghost to keep her company She's going 'round again Sailor with a broken wheel All her roads lead to Rome put her on an even keel down, down down... My lover is a sailor... My lover cries alone at night... My lover sinks beneath the waves... My lover lives by shadowed candle twilight...

My fathers, O my fathers the seeds that you have sown Made your war across the sea And then you brought it home So all the children suffer For the gold that you have sought It's not against your freedom But your greed that I have fought What's going on... My fathers, O my fathers I will now condemn Your hatred of my mothers Of my sisters and my friends Your imaginary demons woman, black or queer Your manufactured outrage Against your shadow fear What's going on... My fathers, O my fathers I am a straight white man But the reins of power that you hold I will not take in hand I reject the lies you've written I reject the works you've wrought I reject your profit margins For love cannot be bought O my mothers, wear your dangerous coats O my sisters, wear your dangerous coats O my lovers, wear your dangerous coats with pockets full of love My fathers, O my fathers I declare your time is done Nothing will I take from you Although I am your son My hands are for my lovers For green and growing things My time is meant for laughter And the songs that children sing O my fathers...

God was dead one morning, it was 9:00 a.m. Struck down by a radar dish that stretched to heaven's end When the prophet heard the news, she laughed until she cried Then she shouted "God is dead! Long live the Divine!" And in the rain, along the strip, her holiness, she let it slip All night long Stand on the walls of Jerusalem Cry out to a desert land That we need not guns in the darkness We need water from the sand O Jerusalem The morning after found her, on a bar room floor Lying in the consequences of the night before Staggering through dirty streets, she made her way back home And cried behind the bathroom door, naked and alone The compass lost, the map was burned, while in the darkness monsters turned And called out her name Stand on the walls of Jerusalem Cry out to a desert land That we need not guns in the darkness We need water from the sand O Jerusalem It's a miracle of rare device Begotten for a beggar's price It's been 40 years and a day Time to wipe this weary mud away The drum to war was sounding, it was 9:00 a.m. There were walls to keep the strangers out, but lock their children in And the prophet who was godless stood upon the shifting sand And bravely shouted "LOVE" to all the monsters on the land Then suddenly amazed to find, that love was echoed back in kind From a voice so still and small it hardly was a voice at all Then her wife said "Don't you know? Most things have to die to grow In their own time?" So come with me, upon the walls of Jerusalem Cry out to a desert land That we shall be, not guns in the darkness For we are water from the sand O Jerusalem

The Phoenix drives a Thunderbird, anything else would be absurd At first I thought the car was black, but later not so sure A cold and graveyard kind of night, cheap Formica, fluorescent light When that car pulled up with a driver, in torn and faded jeans He looked half dead when he came on in, sat at the counter and tried a grin “Coffee, please, strong and black” were the only words he said So I cleaned the grill while he drank it down and he sang to himself in that one-horse town On a nameless road, on a nameless night, in a faded, desert diner He said I rise… “Looks like better days have passed you by,” he said as he ate some apple pie His face a sunburned road map of everywhere he’d been “That’s true enough for both of us, but I let them go without a fuss Because some of us peak early, and it’s all downhill from there.” But he shook his head, said “You’ve got it wrong, darkness comes before the dawn Dying is easy, rising is hard, but it’s what you’re made to do.” We sat there a bit and he grew frail and brittle as a rusty coffin nail And the wind was blowing colder, hammering at the door He said “Listen here, and learn from me, don’t believe everything you see There are things beyond my pay grade, but I can tell you this: Each empty day and lonely night, waits for you to call the light And take the place of sunrise, on any path you choose.” And I rise… I hope I rise… At 5:00 a.m. he was almost gone, hunched over the counter, his face was drawn And his eyes were sick and sad, staring out the big class window Slowly as the sky turned grey he smiled at me but he turned away And like smoke he was gone but then fire and glory burned the land and sky The engine of the Thunderbird roared to live and as I turned He laughed he flared into the sun and the road was suddenly bare A feather lay upon the floor, a burning ember by the door Now in the darkness I hold it tight, threw away the bottle that held back the night And I listen for the coming dawn, singing in the sky And I rise… every day, I rise…