Jesus' Clown

 

It starts with the sound of the sirens
She starts with the sound of
    the sirens
When the siren sounds she starts
    crying
And she thinks of a boy like a lion
Who was with her long ago
Who was with her not so long ago
And she never got a chance to finish
    watching him grow
Everyone who knew him just
    loved him so
To see him smile in that frame on her
     dresser is to know that this was so
There was so much glass on the highway
Shining in the streetlights like stars on the ocean
And a little stream dried up already
That was blood the policeman said
And she begged and she moaned and she cried and she pled
And they put a blanket around her when she started screaming
And his father says he was with her then
But she knows that he wasn't, not again
And it might have started raining then
But she really can't remember
How can so much love come to nothing?
How can so much life come from nothing?
How can so much love come to nothing?
How can she have nothing to love?

And I wish I had been Jesus' clown
Then I would have followed him down
To Gethsemane
And waited with him while he prayed
When they came for him
I wouldn't have been afraid
But then again I don't think I would
    have stayed
For as it is written: Better to be
    a living dog
Than a dead lion, any old day

I wonder if anyone ever told Jesus
    the truth              
Or were they too busy waiting for
     the proof
The bite in salvation's tooth
The raising of heaven's roof
But you never saw me take that poison
People called me the clown
But there were a lot more than just
    twelve of us around
The ones who stayed were the ones
   got their names written down
After all that trouble down in
   Jerusalem town
By then nobody thought we had
    any choice
In any of this, but I could show you
   how he threw his voice
And where we took the body
I was with him right there
   in the back of the boat

When all those apostles were so
    frightened that we wouldn't
    stay afloat
And I assure you he wasn't asleep
Cause that was me on the watch
   he'd ordered me to keep
To let him know when those others
   had started to weep
So he could come forward and calm
   that storm after it had begun
Then all those believers could be
   sure he was the one

But I was there, playing the fool,
   while he fed the
   multitudes some
Fishes and loaves, and I could
  show you too, how that was done
The only thing he ever did for
     real was die
But I know you'll disbelieve me if I
   tell you why
And it's true nothing is sacred
   in a fool's eye
Don't need a magician to pull thorns
   from the tiger's paw
Don't need a wizard to sow your fields
   with teeth from the dragon's jaw
I was there and I know what I saw
You never even knew him but you
   have the law
He had a way of finding truth in a
   whole lot of lies
Look around and ask yourself if God ever really cries



And I wish I had been Jesus' clown
Then I would have followed him down
To Gethsemane
And waited with him while he prayed
When they came for him
I wouldn't have been afraid
But then again I don't think I would
   have stayed
For as it is written: Better to be
   a living dog
Than a dead lion any old day

 

Lightning in the hills
Rain in the pines
Me, I'm inside high and dry
Listening to the Band
Wondering if this is still the
   promised land
Like remembering a dream you
   keep having
Not the dream but that it's the one
   you keep having
And what does it mean
You say you can't remember anything
   I did for you
And you been trying
Don't you recall I brought you a tissue that one time
When you had been crying?
Don't you remember I believed you that one time
When even you knew you were lying?
I used to talk a lot more
But no one ever understood what I was saying
Sometimes I think that I'd like to believe
But then you wind up spending all of your time praying

And I wish I had been Jesus' clown
Then I would have followed him down
To Gethsemane
And waited with him while he prayed
When they came for him
I wouldn't have been afraid
But then again I don't think I
    would have stayed
For as it is written: Better to be
   a living dog
Than a dead lion, any old day      

          
                                  

Jubilee

   Until this day I knew nothing, understood nothing
   Tomorrow will be the same                                                                

Coyote Don't Know

Lone hawk circling, soaring
Higher than I've ever been
No matter how high we get
What's gone ain't coming
    back again
I'm lying on my back and the
    whiskey's almost gone
Just waiting for that river of tears
    to start flowing
The horizon's on fire everywhere
      you look
Just the light from their cities glowing
   Well, I ain't ever been there
   And I ain't ever going
   What coyote don't know
   Ain't worth knowing


Took it home again last night with the 
   headlights off
Just to see how long I could stay out of the ditch

With that yellow moon riding high
    and that Eldorado floored
I was feeling almost white-man rich
Every few miles I passed a 
    warrior's grave
Wrecks on a dark night on a
    lonesome road
Though they were only riding  
   Detroit horses
To me they all died like braves
And they called out to me by my 
    real name, saying
"It's a good day to die, hurry up, might
   be your last chance"
And they beckoned me to come join
   the circle
Where all the skeletons danced
When that moon ran behind some clouds
    I couldn't see a thing
    But I knew where I was going
    What coyote don't know
    Ain't worth knowing

I remember it was Grandfather took me to hear him speak
I wasn't half-grown yet when he came to the reservation
He didn't try to tell us we had to be patient
And he didn't try to tell us all was right with the nation
He was small and frail with a terrible sadness in his eyes
You could feel the weight of the cross he'd carried 
     to this station
The day the people voted for him
Was the same day he got shot down
A couple years later Nixon sent Feds in here
Our men put a couple of them in the ground
Does it ever seem to you the rivers have all run dry
And the grass has stopped growing
And the only sound you can hear
Is a faraway wind blowing?
What coyote don't know
Ain't worth knowing

Well, I might be smaller than a wolf 
But I'm free-er than a dog
Smarter than the night
Slipperier than the fog
My uncle told me when he came back 
   from the army
Anyplace they don't own they call
   Indian Country
Every place in the entire world
The people don't want bought or sold
Now you call it progress cause you dig
   up our earth for uranium instead 
   of gold
Cause you use some different words
When it's the same old lies being told
We even got satellite dishes now
Bring in all that poison you're showing
  But you know, there's stars behind those clouds up yonder beyond the ridge
  By this time tomorrow it'll be snowing
  What coyote don't know

  Ain't worth knowing

Walking along the railroad tracks,
   wondering
"Do the buffalo know
     they're gone?"
Standing at the foot of the
       cross asking
"How'd a guy like that get to be
       so strong?"
I remember my father playing a guitar, 
  singing"Down in the valley, valley so low"
Remember my brother arguing with 
     the preacher, saying
 "If there's white men up in heaven,
      Then I don't want to go"
Now we're assured the people's future
    is bright
Cause we've staked it all on games 
    of chance
When I dream I don't see roulette wheels
    spinning in the night
But Black Hills where the antelopes prance
Did you think before the black robes got here
We didn't know that we shall live again?
Did you think before you cut them down
Cottonwoods never bent in the wind
    Maybe your gods are stronger than ours
    Or maybe mine knows some things they ain't showing
   And maybe what coyote don't know
   Ain't worth knowing