but one man loved the pilgrim soul in you

Prison gates won’t open up for me
On these hands and knees I’m crawlin’
Oh, I reach for you

There is an angel who does nothing but wait for you
to see him. There is a demon who calls your name
like a bird. There is a man passed out on the bed
who doesn’t know yet. There is a telephone and it doesn’t
ring. There is a darker moon that follows me wherever
I go. There is a chair by the door where you stood and measured
your life, and there is a closet where they found your body.
There are many stars in the evening sky. They are beautiful,
and there is nothing we can do to stop them from shining.
There is a God somewhere in all of this, He is hard to see sometimes.

“Nine Elegies for Amy McClelland”, Hugh Steinberg