you knew that they were out there by the signs they'd left behind on old abandoned buildings just some xs and some lines half circles in the concrete crescents in the snow you could find the little beacons almost everywhere you'd go only people who were sick enough knew how to read them right i got sick when I was seventeen and I'd hunt down signs all night you'd listen for the voices in the generator's hum hang out behind the power plant and wait for them to come hints about their mission in the rustling of the surf but no secrets can be kept from you if your faith is strong enough only people who've been sick too long can hold on to the hope but some friendly ghost is listening to the prayers they learned to say at the slack end of the rope