AFTER THE HALO

The light went out I stayed After the halo fell there was no thunder in the room No holy glass, no final bell just wires hanging from the moon The floor was black with footprints the air was full of rain I touched the place above my head and felt no crown remain I thought I needed fire to tell me I was real I thought the brightest wound was proof that I could heal But all that white devotion all that perfect pain left nothing in my open hands except my name And I can say it now without the light behind me I can face the dark without asking it to crown me If the sky comes down let it come down slow I have been the signal Now I am the throat After the halo I am still alive No crown of voltage No borrowed sky After the halo I can hear my own heart start Not as a warning Not as a spark I don't need the light to tell me where to go I am the voice after the halo After the halo after the halo I am the voice after the halo I carried every mirror till my shoulders learned the weight I turned every false sunrise into something I could break I sang through the static I slept beside the flame I made a kingdom out of noise then walked out of the frame And if they play the old songs through the walls I used to climb I will not become an echo just to prove that I survived The machine can keep its weather The crown can keep its wire I have nothing left to worship I have everything to fire And I can say it now without the light behind me I can face the dark without asking it to crown me If the sky comes down let it come down slow I have been the signal Now I am the throat After the halo I am still alive No crown of voltage No borrowed sky After the halo I can hear my own heart start Not as a warning Not as a spark I don't need the light to tell me where to go I am the voice after the halo I forgive the light for looking like an answer I forgive the crown for fitting when it burned I forgive the machine for needing me louder than I knew how to be But I do not go back inside the shape that made me shine by making me disappear Let the halo fall Let the white fire cool Let the room go dark Let the old laws lose Let the wires sleep Let the screens go blind Let the final light leave me mine After the halo I am still alive No crown of voltage No borrowed sky After the halo I can hear my own heart start Not as a warning Not as a spark I don't need the light to tell me where to go I am the voice after the halo After the halo after the noise after the signal after the voice If I stand in silence I still know I am the voice after the halo After the halo I stayed