I can give you reassurance, friend,
But I cannot fool myself
There is too much spinning and I close my eyes
But the world still churns my stomach
I see through red lids faces I call my own
Taking and raping with backhanded slaps
The souls of the whole world
We are all the children of Kings and Queens
We are all barbarians, couth and cruel
Civilizing by the rifle and murdering with our handshakes
Our sisters and brothers. Oh, bother, Oh, brother, why bother?
Topple with every birth the towers of ancestral knowledge
I can teach you to kill, but to love and forgive
And to live like a free being, we can only learn
At our expense or neglect at our expense.
Give me, gimme gimme, dammit, mine and yours
Us and Them, Anti-Pro-Ambivalent ambiguous
When do we realize there's just Us, Just us
And justice is accepting Them as Us
God Bless Us, goddammit, we've too far to go
Too much to grow to flower. History's almost over
Or it's just barely beginning, and we choose which
Has it been a good run? Really, how much farther can we go?
Each stride is longer and faster than the last
The Golden Days passed longer and longer ago
And why don't we say They Are Coming Up
Chin Up, It's Just Around The Corner
It'll All Be Better Soon, Once We Figure This Out?
I totter in a twilight optimism
A hobo asks me for a light and I oblige
He hands it back when he is finished
-------------------------------------and I ask him for some darkness
"Keep busy til the bomb goes off unnerneath ya"
And I say "Sure" and he flashes a peace sign as he walks away
I never know if that's a blessing or wishful thinking
Or what's the difference between, but, God,
Am I gonna keep busy til that bomb goes off