Motherland

My friend, you sit there reminiscing

While happy couples nearby kissing

Remind you of all the people you're missing

That died and moved away

Both fates seem to seduce you

To throw yourself beneath the hooves

Or carry saints your parents knew

You'll meet them all some day

Long before you ever came

Celestials were stripped of fame

But you recall forgotten names behind your bedroom door

Leaning on your windowsill

Forgetting April's water bill

Past romances haunting still

And a notice on your door

Don't leave home, save those bones

Motherland, keep your clams

Through your dirty window pain

Hear the screaming of the train

Freedom in its song contained and blessed in its path

Could a purpose satisfy such an ordinary guy

Who hears a locomotive cry of desire's wrath

Don't leave home, save those bones

Motherland, keep your clams

Living doesn't make more sense

When you've paid for insurance

Prophets scalp recycled hints

Off your office walls

So, in truth, they'll never live to tell

Of wretched toil or living hell

But you know all the sweetness still that echoes from your halls

Don't leave home, save those bones

Motherland, keep your clams

Singing songs of highwaymen

You go back to the bank again

Dreaming of the old times when a pistol did the job

But if you think of trouble making people say

You are mistaken, time's the only thing worth taking

But you keep getting robbed

Don't leave home, save those bones

Motherland, keep your clams