Is This the Life We Really Want?

[?]

Where are you now? Don't answer that

I’m still ugly. You’re still fat. I’ve still got spots. I’m still afraid

Our parents made us what we are. Or was it God? Who gives a fuck; it’s never really over

If I had been God

I would have rearranged the veins in the face to make them more resistant to alcohol and less prone to aging

If I had been God

I would have sired many sons and I would not have suffered the Romans to kill even one of them

If I had been God

With my staff and my rod

If I had been given the nod

I believe I could have done a better job



If I were a drone

Patrolling foreign skies

With my electronic eyes for guidance

And the element of surprise

I would be afraid to find someone home

Maybe a woman at a stove





Baking bread, making rice, or just boiling down some bones

If I were a drone



The temple's in ruins

The bankers get fat

The buffalo's gone

And the mountain top's flat

The trout in the streams are all hermaphrodites

You lean to the left but you vote to the right



And it feels like dejà vu

The sun goes down and I'm still missing you

Counting the cost of love that got lost

And under my Gulf Stream, in circular pools

There's ninety-nine cents worth of drunkards and fools

Lie with me now

Under lemon tree skies

Show me the shy, slow smile you keep hidden by warm brown eyes



Catch the sweet hover of lips just barely apart

And wonder at loves sweet ache

And the wild beat of my heart



Oh, rhapsody tearing me apart



And I dreamed I was saying goodbye to my child

She was taking a last look at the sea





Wading through dreams, up to our knees in warm ocean swells

While bathing belles, soft beneath

Hard bitten shells punch their iPhones

Erasing the numbers of redundant lovers



And search the horizon

And you'll find my child

Down by the shore

Digging around for a chain or a bone

Searching the sand for a relic washed up by the sea

Picture yourself as you lean on the port rail

Tossing away your last cigarette

Picture your finger pushing the doorbell

Picture the skull and crossbones on the doormat

Picture yourself on the streets of Laredo

Picture the casbah, picture Japan

Picture your kid with his hand on the trigger

Picture prosthetics in Afghanistan



Picture a courthouse with no fucking laws

Picture a cathouse with no fucking whores

Picture a shithouse with no fucking drains

Picture a leader with no fucking brains



Follow me filming myself at the show

On a phone from a seat in the very front row

Follow Miss Universe catching some rays

Wish you were here in Guantanamo Bay

Picture a seat on a private plane





Picture your feet nailed to the floor

Picture a crew who are clearly insane

Picture no windows, picture no doors



Glued to a screen in the state of Nevada

To follow the dream gets harder and harder

Picture her wrapping a gift for the wedding

Picture her boiling the water for tea

Picture the kids climbing into the backseat

Picture my hand turning the keys

Oh picture that

Picture the dog in the pickup ahead

Picture the tree at the side of the road

Picture my hands growing steadily colder



Follow me down to a place by the river

Sold for my kidneys, sold for my liver

Why so weedy, so fucking needy

There’s no such thing as being too greedy

Sometimes I stare at the night sky

See them stars a billion light years away

And it makes me feel small like a bug on a wall

Who gives a shit anyway?

Who gives a shit anyway?



When World War II was over

Though the slate was never wiped clean

We could have picked over them broken bones

We could have been free



But we chose to adhere to abundance

We chose the American Dream

And ooo, Mistress Liberty -

How we abandoned thee



How

We abandoned thee

And oh, Mistress Liberty

How we abandoned thee



Could've been born in Shreveport

Or he could've born in Tehran

It don't much matter wherever you're born

Little babies mean us no harm

They have to be taught to despise us

To bulldoze our homes to the ground

To belief their fight is for liberty

To believe their god will keep them safe and sound



Safe and sound

Safe and sound



We cannot turn back the clock

Cannot go back in time

But we can say:

Fuck you, we will not listen to

Your bullshit and lies

Your bullshit and lies

[ Donald Trump]

You’re CNN. I mean it’s story, after story, after story is bad. I won. I won. And the other thing, chaos. There’s zero chaos. We are running- This is a fine-tuned machine



The goose has gotten fat

On caviar and fancy bars

And subprime homes

And broken homes

Is this the life, the holy grail?

It’s not enough that we succeed

We still need others to fail



Fear, fear drives the mills of modern man

Fear keeps us all in line

Fear of all those foreigners

Fear of all their crimes

Is this the life we really want?

It surely must be so

For this is a democracy and what we all say goes



And every time a student is run over by a tank

And every time a pirate’s dog is forced to walk the plank

Every time a Russian bride is advertised for sale

And every time a journalist is left to rot in jail

Every time a young girl’s life is casually spent

And every time a nincompoop becomes the president





Every time somebody dies reaching for their keys

And every time the green land falls in the fucking sea is because



All of us, the blacks and whites

Chicanos, Asians, every type of ethnic group

Even folks from Guadeloupe, the old, the young



Toothless hags, super models, actors, fags, bleeding hearts

Football stars, men in bars, washerwomen, tailors, tarts

Grandmas, grandpas, uncles, aunts

Friends, relations, homeless tramps

Clerics, truckers, cleaning ladies

Ants – maybe not ants

Why not ants?

Well because its true

The ants don’t have enough IQ to differentiate between

The pain that other people feel and well, for instance, cutting leaves

Or crawling across window seals in search of open treacle tins

So, like the ants, are we just dumb

Is that why we don’t feel or see?

Or are we all just numbed out on reality TV



So, every time the curtain falls

Every time the curtain falls on some forgotten life

It is because we all stood by, silent and indifferent

Are you blowing like a bird in a gale?

Does the pain of your loss seep into your feathers like rain?

Do the bars of your cage feel low or cold to the touch?

Were my caresses too gentle, did I love you too much

Your dog is scratching at the door





The boy is drowning in the sea

Can I crash out on your floor?



The boy is drowning in the sea

Can I crash out on your floor?

Is there room in the story for me?

She may well have been the most beautiful girl in the world

Her life snuffed out like a bulldozer crushing a pearl

The secret committee deep in its lair

Conveniently far from the cold desert air

Puts a tick in a box, turns the key in a lock

To loosen the buns in her hair

Sleep well if you can, wrapped safe in your cloak

The tumbledown twilight Havana smoke caught in your throat

Mistress Liberty's dance, held you in its trance

Her bosoms were loaded with nectar and lances

"Well boy" she said "you have broken the trust, hold on to that stick if you must"



Take a fresh grip on the crucible room

A patchwork of ashes sweeps away the flag of Rome (?)

Madness comes down like the crackpot of ages





The raging of angels, cathedral of stars

Christopher Robin says "Alice, go home now, they're no longer changing the guard"



"Hold on" she said "you're breaking my heart"

It's weird how the steel rails disappear into the dark

They clung to the ivory tower on her braids

They were never afraid of falling

But the bomb hit the spot where the numbers all start

And the last thing they heard was her calling home

I'm coming home

I'm the life that you gave

I'm the children you saved

I'm the promise you made

I'm the woman you crave

So hold on...I'm coming home (hold on, I'm coming home)

There's a mad dog pulling at his chain

A hint of danger in his eye

Alarm bells raging round his brain

And the chimney's broken in the sky



Wake up

Wake up and smell the roses

Close your eyes and pray this wind don't change

There's nothing but screams in the field of dreams

Nothing but hope at the end of the road

Nothing but gold in the chimney smoke

Come on honey it's real money



This is the room where they make the explosives

Where they put your name on the bomb

Here's where they bury the buts and the ifs

And scratch out words like right and wrong



Wake up

Wake up and smell the phosphorus





This is the room we keep a human heir

Don't ask don't tell it couldn't be lost for us

Yeah, little less cash in the stash in the cupboard

At the bottom of the stair

Money, honey



Wake up

Wake up and smell the bacon

Run your greasy fingers through her hair

This is the life that you have taken



Just a line in the captain's log

Just a whine from a resident dog

Another kid didn't make the grade

Come on honey it's a fair trade



Wake up

Wake up and smell the roses

Throw a photo on the funeral pyre

Yeah, now we can forget the threat she poses

Girl you know you couldn't get much higher

Will a glass inlaid with gemstones on a pool around the evening

Among the perfumed roses, wait for her

With the patience of a pack horse loaded for the mountains

Like a stoic noble prince, wait for her

With seven pillows laid out on the stair

The scent of [?] incense fills the air

Be calm and wait for her

And do not flush the sparrows that are nesting in her braids

All along the barricades, wait for her



And if she comes soon, wait for her

And if she comes late, wait

Let her be still as a summer afternoon

A garden in full bloom

Let her breathe in the air that is foreign to her heart

Let her lips part, wait for her





Take her to the balcony, see the moon soaked in milk

Hear the rustle of her silk, wait for her

Don't let your eyes alight upon the twin doves of her breast

Lest they take flight

Wait for her



And if she comes soon, wait for her

And if she comes late, wait, wait

Serve her water before wine

Do not touch her hand

Let your fingertips rest at her command

Speak softly as a flute would to a fearful violin

Breathe out, breathe in



And as the echo fades from her final fusillade

Remember the promises you made

She was always here in my heart

Always the love of my life

We were strangers, oceans apart

But when I laid eyes on her a part of me died

The part that is envious, cold-hearted and devious

Greedy, mischievous, global, colonial

Bloodthirsty, blind, mindless and cheap

Focused on borders and slaughtering sheep

Burning of books, bulldozing of homes

Giving to targeted killing with drones

Lethal injections, arrest without trial

Monocular vision, gangrene and slime, unction, sarcasm

Common assault, self satisfied heroic killers lifted on high

Piracy, avarice, acid attacks on women by murderers

And perverts and hacks

The rigging of ballots and the buying of power

Lies from the pulpit, rape in the shower





Mute, indifferent, feeling no shame

Portly, important, leering, deranged

Sat in the corner watching TV

Deaf to the cries of children in pain

Dead to the world just watching the game

Watching endless repeats out of sight out of mind

Silence, indifference the ultimate crime

But when I met you, that part of me died



Bring me a bow to ?

Bring me my final cigarette

It would be better by far to die in her arms than to linger

In a lifetime of regret