Liquid Under Film Noir

So short of hope, hard not to choke on smoking paint

A soul survived an indoor fire

There's soot on everything

alien, adhesive skin

The embers glow in the remains

Can you see that far

when the lens is stained with blackened grease?

Can you swim in tar

and still retrieve the heart?

The liquid under film noir?

Back to the scene before the blaze

Behind the scenes, someone misplaced

Pitch in the rain machine,

spray painting the white screen

sparked my imagination

Can you see that far

when the lens is stained with blackened grease?

Can you swim in tar

and still retrieve the heart?

The liquid under film noir?

Poor, poor blackbirds, wrapped in shadow

strewn like pebbles on dead meadows

Help me please, I've lost my brother

Summer's song so cruelly smothered

Now I live in my camera obscura

A pinhole eye

admitting some light

Replacing mine

I am guilty as sin

And so I ran back to the end,

where it began

with arson and a dream

An image feared

reversed in here,

becoming so clear

and it simply spelled 'The End'

Can you see that far

when the lens is stained with blackened grease?

Can you swim in tar

and still retrieve the heart?

The liquid under film noir?