Faith

A rainbow over the graveyard

Or is that hope?

Deathsong

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You surrounded my poor father

And you hounded him down

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You captured my baby brother

And you laid him in the ground

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You haunted my own mother

Left her home a desolate place

O death, O death

I will remember thee

    

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You tempted the little chidren

When you found no one around

O death, O death

I will remember thee 

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

I stared right in your eyes

Spoke to you by your true name

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You took our common garden

And you laid it all to waste

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You laid hands on my beautiful sister

Made her make a crying sound

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

You ambushed my lovers

When we were glorybound

O death, O death

I will remember thee


Death, O death
I will remember thee
Death, O death
I will remember thee
You overtook my dear friends
Waylaid them right out there on the road
O death, O death
I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

I will remember thee

We raised many mansions

You burned everything you found 

O death, O death

I will remember thee

Death, O death

Let me be

Death, O death

Please let me be

We ask only for a little while

You have eternity

O death, O death

Please let me be 

All the King's Horses, All the Hanged Men

Way down here the high sheriff
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

The little boy's bike bounced for  a ways  down the highway
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

Diplomats testify that history
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 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

We don't owe you anything, the court opines
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 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

He came back from the jungle with a Purple Heart
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 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


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

Just right then they looked pretty well beaten down
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

                        

Perfect Stranger

Are they still lies 
If no one believes them?
Are they still gifts 
If no one receives them?
Are they beautiful words
If no one reads them?
Did I kiss your mouth
Or had you stopped breathing? 
Did I bind your wounds
Or were you not bleeding?
Were you already gone
Or was I just leaving?
Wasn't it really mine
Or was I still thieving?

                                                                                                                                         
                                                        I walk among them as a friend

                                                                                    And I leave as a perfect stranger                                                                                   How come I walk among them as a friend

                                                                           And I always leave as a perfect stranger?                                                                           Always a perfect stranger

                                                        I come among you as a friend

                                                         Yet I leave a perfect stranger

                                                           Always a perfect stranger   

Do I speak my mind
Or do I keep it hid?
Did I treat you kind?
I thought I did
Oh yes, I meant
To return your call
Until I fell sound asleep
Must have been all those 
        pills and alcohol
So tell the truth
Was it sad to see me fall?
You want some proof?
I can barely crawl



I come among them as a friend
And I leave as a perfect stranger
How come I walk among them as a friend
And I always leave as a perfect stranger
Always a perfect stranger
How can it be I come among you as a friend
Yet I leave a perfect stranger
Always a perfect stranger

So go on ahead
I'll meet you there
In the secret room
At the top of the stairs
With the radio
And the broken chairs
We'll draw on the walls
And sigh and stare
We'll spend some time
We'll breathe some air
We'll make paper crosses
No one can bear
And we won't break
And we won't tear
And I'll get better
Someday I'll swear
I'll learn to hope
If you'll learn to care
So you go on ahead
I'll meet you there

                                                                                     I come among you as a friend                                                                                            And I leave as a perfect stranger
                                                                              How come I walk them as a friend
                                                                   And I always leave as a perfect stranger?
                                                                                          Always a perfect stranger
                                                                 How can it be I come among you as a friend
                                                                                      Yet I leave a perfect stranger?
                                                                                           Always a perfect stranger
                                                                                        Always the perfect stranger 

E.C.T. (Riding Horses in the Snow)

Well, Dad may not be always be quite 
         right, but he ain't wrong
He's just been up thinking too hard 
        for way too long
All through the night and into 
        the dawn
And still the leaves fall and 
    they cover the lawn
One thing in life I've surely learned
Some bridges there are that just
      won't burn
A shooting star is no bigger than 
      a grain of sand
The universe fits in the palm
      of your hand


There's comet dust in everyone's hair
Mom won't ever tell why Dad's not here
The boat draws near the far shore
The spectre in the mirror is there no more
                                                                                       


Tell me, my son, which way does the Nile flow?
Dad's not here, and only he knows
Where is he this time, where did he go?
He's gone again, and only he knows
My dad is riding horses in the snow
My dad is out riding horses in the snow

Look, did you see, that was him
That ghost in the bleachers at the end of the gym
Dad, Dad, I missed you, I'm so glad you came
Which one are you, son, I can't remember 
      your names
Boys, are you home, how were your games?
Mom, Dad was there but he wasn't the same
His eyes were vacant, he had rain in his hair
He couldn't have been, coldly, she said
      your father wasn't there
I knew different though
I'd traced every hollow in his face
Love was like a comfortable silence
      between us
A voice in the wilderness, saving grace


Tell me, my son, which way does the Nile flow?
Dad's not here, and only he knows
Where is he this time, where did he go?
He's gone again, and only he knows
My dad is riding horses in the snow
My dad is out riding horses in the snow

A man reads newspapers
A man reads books
A man sometimes drinks too much
And don't much care how he looks
A man gives without asking
A man cares for the poor
A man always has room at his table
Even when the wolf howls at his door
A man ain't redeemed
A man ain't saved
A man weeps like Jesus
At his own child's grave


Tell me my son, which way does the Nile flow>
Dad's not here, and only he knows
Where is he this time, where did he go?
He's gone again, and only he knows
My dad is riding horses in the snow
My dad is out riding horses in the snow

So how many times were you crucified?
How many denied?
I'll remember for you
I was the one who cried
For you, when you fell down in the rain
When the wires fell off the roof
And the night burst into flames
And then the cops came
Hey, Dad, you should see what they're trying this time
The fog hangs low around the trees 
        and the melting snow
The houses on the hillside look lonesome,
      but there's still plenty of money around
And off to war once more we go

Tell me my son, which way does the Nile flow?
Dad's not here, and only he knows
Where is he this time, where did he go?
He's gone again, and only he knows
My dad is riding horses in the snow
My dad is out riding horses in the snow

And didn't you see it all already?
Out there leaning on the fence, 
    attended by crows
With the leaves burning in a 
    rusty barrel
The ashes swirling every which 
    way the wind blows
Some of us got sick
Some of us died
Some of us did better than others
All the time we tried
Always we loved one another
Mostly we laughed, though 
    sometimes we cried
 
And as long as the story is good enough
We never say anyone lied


Tell me, my son, which way does the Nile flow
Dad's not here, and only he knows
Where is he this time, where did he go?
He's gone again. and only he knows
My dad is riding horses in the snow
My dad is out riding horses in the snow

Well, Dad's not in a bar
And he's not in the yard 
    hanged from a tree
And he didn't wreck the car
He's just somewhere else 
    he needs to be
And he's not in the 
    red-brick dungeon
Hooked up to the 
    lightning machines
And he's not in a hospital 
    bed neither
His life counted out on 
    instrument screens
The question's asked 
    without speaking
Or maybe I just thought you'd want to know
My dad is out riding horses in the snow
Dad is riding horses 
     In the snow. . . . in the snow