Adventus

These are lyrics to a song I wrote about a year and a half ago, and this piece appeared in the 2009 edition of SJU's Crimson & Grey Literary Magazine. At the time, I was in the contemplative mood of imagining the return of Jesus to our society. What would he see, what would he think? Would he be comfortable here? Would we be proud to show him all the human race has accomplished? These were the questions I had, and I tried to answer them through the form of an open letter from Jesus to the big man upstairs, God. Now, as I go through this JVC experience, I find these questions are even more relevant. Anyway, it's called "Adventus"- enjoy, and let me know what you think.
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Adventus

You sent me back down to the place where I was killed.
You said, "There's babies on the corners and there's kids popping pills.
They're ending the lives of those who needn't have died,
And you know just how it feels to be crucified."

It had been a long while since I'd been through this town,
So I decided to see if my friends were still around.
But Paulie lost his head, and Petey went with him,
And Johnny? Well, they caught him and threw him in the prison.

And Old Man Laz, well, he's still waiting for his therapy,
And they say Tommy don't want nothing to do with me.
And my girl Maria, she's back to turning tricks again.
You know Mr. P's still got the cleanest hands of all of them.

You told me to go back to the school where I once taught,
But they knocked that shack down and put up a shopping mall.
Every day and every night they go and pray to their gods,
But this time they have weird names, like Gabbana and Vuitton.

I couldn't take it anymore!
So I caught the first train to the Dead Sea Shore.
But even the Dead Sea Shore wasn't the same as before,
Because all the fish were green, and the water wasn't pure.

I thought that maybe I could find some wood
And use my hands to carve a living, like a good boy should.
But the funniest thing, Pop, I've found in this town
Is that all of your trees have been cut to the ground!

They've got the tallest buildings that I ever have seen,
But they still don't have homes for folks out on the street.
And every night, there's some guys who eat like kings.
And every night, there's some guys who don't eat anything.

So I was walking down the road, wondering what to do.
I had my hands in my pockets and a hole in my shoe,
When some young punks came up and hit me from behind
And sneered at me, "Let him turn his tears into wine!"

They left me for the vultures on the side of the road;
They stole all my belongings and they broke all my bones.
And from every passerby, there was no offer of aid.
I guess for bums out on the street, there's not much worth to save.

I kept praying and praying for the end to come.
I asked you, "How could you twice decided to forsake your son?"
When at that moment, I heard some footsteps come along;
He had his head held high and he was singing this song:

"When the rose fits with the glove,
Even the eagle's gotta fly with the dove.
And if you can't be with the one you love, well,
Love the one you're with."*

He was a nice young boy, with long hair like mine.
I asked him, "Where did you learn such a beautiful rhyme?"
He replied, "Not long ago, there were a couple of guys
Who said 'All you need is love, and you'll end up alright'."

So he took me to his home, and he laid me on his bed
And he swaddled me in cloth and he fixed up my head.
And when I asked him the cost for all his kindness,
He shrugged and said, "Just do unto others, that's the best thing, I guess."