Open the road once
Let the lost ones pass
Four dry mouths
Chew what we cannot ask
No true north here
No clean way home
The road keeps a tongue
For every broken throne
North counts the breath
Then calls it law
White rooms smile
Where the small hands thaw
Every name filed
Every door sealed
Every warm face
Taught not to feel
South sells the grain
Then starves the field
Warm kings feast
Where the small hands yield
Every bowl waits
Every well runs low
Every child learns
What the rich ones owe
Walk through the road
Through the road
Down where the four mouths
Feed on the world
Walk through the road
Through the road
No map is clean
The kind make the road
East folds the book
Then calls it peace
Old bells ring
While the bowed heads freeze
Every soft law
Wears an ancient name
Every closed gate
Calls the quiet tame
West sells the sky
Then calls it free
Glass towers grin
Over every small plea
Every bright screen
Turns want into need
Every gold mouth
Teaches dust to kneel
Walk through the road
Through the road
Down where the four mouths
Feed on the world
Walk through the road
Through the road
No map is clean
The kind make the road
North
Counts
South
Sells
East
Bows
West
Bills
All four roads turn
Then turn again
Back to the hands
That would not bend
Every false sign
Points back to them
The kind walk on
And the road learns their name
Walk through the road
Through the road
Down where the four mouths
Fed on the world
Walk through the road
Through the road
No crown stays clean
The kind make the road
Open the road once
Let the lost ones pass
Four dry mouths
Spit what they could not eat