We Might Be Heroes: X-Ray Vision

I can see right through you

I could look at my brother

And see his dark thoughts

His periwinkle curiosity

The dreams he had of big cities

And small personalities

I could see his hands dipped in paint

Reddish gold with flecks of blue

Blue doesn’t belong there

Blue belongs in another can

Far across the room

They want to know what I can do

I can see right through you

And you and you

When the aliens come

They’ll let the crazy people

Out of the crazy hospitals

And the crazy houses

And the memory palaces

And the chosen vaults

And the pickling jars

And the produce sections

And the pharmacies

And the tanning booths

And the trespassing yards

And the fenced in anomaly situations

They’ll have us be the first wave

Us loony birds

Us cuckoo clocks

Us color blind

Us, us, us

They’ll make us take hands

And work our way around the earth

Like a gate with no door

No lock, no key

Blue light in flakes will fall down on us like snow

And we’ll dissipate into ozone holes

Like carbon vapor

Monastic dioxide

Can you use my x-ray vision?

Do you want me to look at the aliens

And tell them who they are?

Because when I do that now

I’m called homeless

I’m ignored

I’m walked by

When the world turns upside down

Will I be the sane one?

The genius?

The savior?

Will you look at me and ask for my help?

After refusing to help me

Over and over again?

Will I be your new god?

I looked at my brother once

And told him that his bones

Were made of candy canes

And he thought I was making a joke

But I wasn’t joking

They’ve lied to us, you see

We humans are not skin and blood and veins

The way they say we are

We’re candy canes and ginger snaps

Wasabi peas and tarragon

Association and disassociation

Contradictions and synonyms

Red and gold and bits of blue

That pop up when you don’t need them to

You see past me?

Well, I see through you

And I know what you’re going to do

And I know what I’m going to do

I’m going to try to hug those aliens

Wrap my arms around them

The way I did my brother

Tell them they don’t need to push and shove

To get a little bit of love

They only need to come in peace

Then I’ll close my eyes

And see for miles and years

And endless, endless time

How nice it’ll be

How nice it’ll be

How nice it’ll be

To close my eyes