It lingers
Hidden 
   in the shadow of today
With warning from the past
And fears perching 
   on tomorrow's storm
How we mourn
  the confidence of living
     free of death
        when youth has cast
           it's spell of innocence
An innocence that does not know of 
Moment's never to be had
An innocence that does not know of
Hope that will shattered
   in the claw 
      of violence
         and accidence
            and incidents 
               of broken harmony
Where songs are stilled
And purpose killed
Within the will 
Of ignorance
And penitence
And evidence 
    revealed
       and peeled
          from
Secrets
   given life
By actions
   giving death
From notions breathing softly
In the 
   corners of 
      regret

(c) 1996 James Oliver Smith, Jr