Shroud

I had to leave the house of fashion

Go forth naked from its doors

'Cuz women should be allies

Not competitors

And I had to leave the house of God

'Cuz Cross replaced the wheel

And the goddesses were out in the garden

With the plants that nourish and heal

I had to leave the house of privilege

Spend Christmas homeless and feeling bad

To learn that privilege is a headache

That you don't know, that you don't have

And I had to leave the house of television

To start noticing the clouds

It's amazing the stuff you see

When you finally shed that shroud

I had to leave the house of conformity

In order to make art

I had to be more or less true

To learn to tell the two apart

And I had to leave the house of fear

Just about as soon as I could crawl

Ignore my face on the 'Wanted' posters

Stuck to the post office wall

I had to leave the house of self-importance

To doodle my first tattoo

Realize a tattoo is no more permanent

Than I am

And who ever said that life is suffering

I think they had their finger on the pulse of joy

Ain't the power of transcendence

The greatest one we can employ?