Keeps a list of names
And next to every one
Is the reason for their shame
Some were unwed mothers
Some were partners in crime
Some forged transport papers to paradise
Others just stayed high all the time
Some people got more than they need
Some people ain't got enough
Some call it good fortune, some call it greed
Some call the sheriff when things get rough
Goddamn the hangman
Goddamn the crown
Goddamn the lord and his lady
In their castle when they lay their heads down
Goddamn the judge
Goddamn the king
Goddamn this land
Of thee I sing
After it fell from the back of the truck
Lightning was marching its way across the mountains
Kindling fire in the trees every place that it struck
The smoke joined with the clouds and rose straight to heaven
Like the souls of innocents at the slaughter
He walked in the truth
Like sunlight across the water
By now he would have died six more times already
Been resurrected and forgiven
Hid in plain sight as they rolled away the stone
Praised Jesus and many things that are forbidden
Is the memory of states
Those poets never lie who
Foretell ruin in a dog starved at his master's gate
There's no crime in being poor the multitude preaches
Outside the wire the women grieve
The uncreated light is the light of the eyes,
the prophet teaches
A new social gospel for beggars and thieves
He led the children's crusade and consorted with lepers
Forgave his debtors ahead of the jubilee
We watched in hiding as the soldiers cut his body down
Watched in silence amidst the conspiring trees
Goddamn the crown
Goddamn the lord and his lady
In their castle when they lay their heads down
Goddamn the judge
Goddamn the king
Goddamn this land
Of thee I sing
On a foreign runway rifles are offloaded in wooden crates
The computers lock on target, the missiles
scream and whine
The world is made free to determine its fate
Thirty pieces of silver is a paltry sum
For those who live inside the gates
Who still make their fortunes in slaves and rum
Precious metals, derivatives, and interest rates
The empire stretches from coast to coast
And halfway around the world
Secured by capital and the Holy Ghost
And a pirate's flag unfurled
Now the people all have worried faces
Troubled heart and smallpox dreams
The rulers worry about lipstick traces
Blood pressure coughs and bomb-proof limousines
Goddamn the crown
Goddamn the lord and his lady
In their castle when they lay their heads down
Goddamn the judge
Goddamn the king
Goddamn this land
Of thee I sing
China White in his duffel bag and voices in his head
Everything he needed to make a new start
Except that he was already dead
He killed an old lady one night as she prayed
In her hooch down in the Central Valley
Tagged her body with tfillin for the medics to find
Called in a dust-off and dragged her out to the alley
Charlie was invisible in the night and the fog
The grey wolf is something you can see
Kill the body and the head must die
Set the spirits free
Maybe it is best you don't know what I'm thinking
Cause if you did then you'd be me
Goddamn the crown
Goddamn the lord and his lady
In their castle when they lay their heads down
Goddamn the judge
Goddamn the king
Goddamn this land
Of thee I sing
I saw a half-dozen hundred sufferers
in the circle
They were invisible to the righteous
Women and children following
the men away
To the farm, down the river, upstate,
out of sight
But the peasants give them bread, wine, and shelter
along the way
Until one among you burns to proclaim this tale
As a lie in my ears is every word you may pray
When the jails are full the father weeps
For children and mothers left all alone
The alchemists' dream realized at millenium's end
Gold and high office conjured from corpuscles and bones
You cleared away the forests, strip-mined your own land
In search of the philosopher's stone
How can you be certain you have hours enough
to bury your dead
Or days sufficient in which to atone?
Goddamn the hangman
Goddamn the crown
Goddamn the lord and his lady
In their castle when they lay their heads down
Goddamn the judge
Goddamn the king
Goddamn this land
Of thee I sing
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