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I've got this phosphorescent portrait |
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Of gentle |
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Jesus meek and mild |
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I've got this harlot that |
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I'm stuck with |
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Carrying another man's child |
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The solitary star announcing vacancy |
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Burnt out as we arrived |
|
They'd throw us back across the border |
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If they knew that we survived |
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And they were surprised to see us |
|
So they greeted us with palms |
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They asked for ammunition acts |
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Of contrition and small alms |
|
I might recite a small prayer if |
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I ever said them |
|
I lay down on an iron frame and found myself in |
|
BedlamI wish that |
|
I could take something for drowning out the noise |
|
Wailing echoes down the corridors |
|
I've got this imaginary radio |
|
And I'm punching up the dial |
|
I've got the |
|
AC trained on the |
|
TVSo it won't blow up in my eye |
|
And everything that |
|
I thought fanciful |
|
And mocked as too extreme |
|
Must be family entertainment here |
|
In the strange land of my dreams |
|
And I'm practicing my likeness |
|
Of St. Francis of |
|
AssisiFor if |
|
I hold my hand outstretched |
|
A little bird comes to me |
|
And I might recite a small prayer if |
|
I ever said them |
|
I lay down on an iron frame and found myself in |
|
BedlamEscaping from the fingers that were stretching through the bars |
|
Wailing echoes down the corridors |
|
The player piano picks out ' |
|
Life goes on' |
|
The ring tone rang out ' |
|
Jerusalem' |
|
Into the pit of sadness where the rank of wretched plunge |
|
We've buried all the innocents we must bury revenge |
|
They've got this scared and decorated girl |
|
Strapped to the steel trunk of a |
|
MustangAnd then they drove her down a cypress grove |
|
Where traitors hang and stars still spangle |
|
They dangled flags and other rags |
|
Along a colored thread of twine |
|
They dragged that bruised and purple heart |
|
Along the road to |
|
PalestineSomeone went off muttering |
|
He mentioned thirty pieces |
|
Easter saw a slaughtering |
|
Each wrapped in bloodstained fleeces |
|
My thoughts returned to vengeance |
|
But I put up no resistance |
|
Though it seemed a long way from my home |
|
It really was no distance |
|
And I might recite a small prayer if |
|
I ever said them |
|
I lay down on an iron frame and found myself in |
|
BedlamBowing like an actor acknowledging applause |
|
Playing the crusader who was conquering the |
|
MarsAnd he knew the consequences but he won't accept the cause |
|
Wailing echoes down the corridors |
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Feel it, feel it |
