BROTHER

Come with me, my friend; I know a place
Before the landscape became glass and steel,
Before the pre-cast concrete rolled onto its snakeyes place
on the torrid landscape, before God yelled CRAPS A LOSER
and we all had to move in; I know a place before
you had to accept that they know it when they see it, before
you knew it and couldn't say it, before
you say I must be lying let me explain: see,

�

it was there before we got chased out and told
where to go; there before we had to choose a place
on this rough ground to stretch out our form and hope
we could sleep through the night full of strange noises
before we decided that when the rains came we would flee
to the safety of the boxcars before CRAPS A LOSER
became the best place to wait out the day. Look:
�

you can see it from here, the place
where the heads of trees billow full and proud, the waters
speak clear and loud, the birds
and insects speak
the truth they've known forever. Listen: they say
�

nothing useful, they mean nothing by it, and it's good
because the birds say LETS LOOK FOR MORE INSECTS and
the insects say LETS GO FOR A SWIM and the fish say nothing
they just eat and tomorrow there are more insects

�

but listen: these boxcars ain't going nowhere and
CRAPS A LOSER will be there when we get back and time has come
To swim in the river and lay in the grass and listen to
The birds and the insects and maybe remember that God didn't just
Roll the dice for us

See, there has to have been a time before the Blacks were bought out
Before the culture was leveraged with junk bonds before
We were no better or worse we just were before
And that is the place you can see from here before
The trees were off limits and we had to find places to park and
When we show up Monday at CRAPS A LOSER sunburnt and insectbit
And full of fish when someone says How's Your Weekend we can say
�

Primordial

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