I Believe in Everything

Wasteland

Hushabye

I am not the one
I seem to think I am
who let twelve angry mannequins
command me into bed
I am not the one
I seem to think I am
evading chance and training
to be wed

but don't your nightmares grow dimmer
when there's a stranger in your bed?

when suddenly it occurs to me
I am not where I want to be
and morning
is coming fast

I have been divided
like a highway
could not stay still in one place
very long
I have looked for centuries
burned down the pyramids
but I still could not find the song

that disappears down the railroad
as the train rolls along

and so these stories spun their glory
wove a web to trap
and they captured me
bowed down in prayer

singing

glory to the wild
where man's heart is a friend
glory to the wild
I will see you 
again

I have answered all
the advertisements that I read
emblazoned on a look
patrolling neighborhoods and books
recorded on the lips
of the sweetest
juvenile crooks
and for this crime I had to sentence
myself to twelve more years of sleep

but still these stories creep
around my brain
the sacred train
the pilgrim's fame
I've grown too old to seek

you who told me once
then told me twice
don't ever take advice
from gamblers
priests or thieves
but I've read enough to know
it's not just what I reap and sow
it's what I choose to believe

so if the echoes should stop dancing
down the narrow halls of time
I will pour through history books
in search of clues to where they took
the last lonely railroad song

singing

glory to the wild
where man's heart is a friend
glory to the wild
I will see you 
again

I am not who I seem to think
I laugh with gods and raise my drink
to hide these 
mortal flaws
baptized in suicide
a slave to timid men with soothing lies
of longing
for a cause

if my prayers still go unanswered
after time has had its way

I will crucify the southern skies
and serve to testify
the joke was on me

I'll go out where the city breaks
and I'm the only one awake
and live
what I believe

I will send my gods to bed
put a bullet in my head
and live
what I believe

singing

glory to the wild
where man's heart is a friend
glory to the wild
I will see you
again

The Last Lonely Railroad Song

City Hymnal

cast an anchor
carve a stone
make the ground your happy home
we can gather up the evidence and run

if the sky would only rain
i'd let it wash me clean again
find a corner of the capital to steal
let them know I plan to make a deal

I never asked to be alone
inside this square where nothing grows
like a plastic ballerina in a box

twirling on this plot of land
a frozen clock inside my hand
counting down the landing of the sun
so eager for his battle to be won

maybe once the seasons change
my little room will rearrange
all the panels pried apart and sold for scrap

my plastic race I will refute
by sleeping in the chimney soot
and scrubbing grains of dirt against my arms
for I never meant my skin to bring you harm

maybe they will let me in
and teach me how to sing again
in Kibera we'll celebrate the sun

for night brings jungle cats and men
who'd steal the women back again
I would keep a constant vigil by the fire
if only they would let me join the choir

I'd Rather Be in Kibera

they put my on the bill tonight 
my name in bold black print
I left a copy on your front porch stairs
and I hope that you can take a hint

when you walk back to your home
and find it waiting there
my floodlit dream of front row seats
and casual affairs

I am better than this
better than this
but it's so hard to resist

I've been rehearsing all my lines
memorized the play
I finally made it to my mark on the floor
at the center of the stage

the only song that I prepared
is one I wrote for you
it sounds just like the rest
but then
I guess that you are too

I knew better than this
better than this
but it's so hard to resist

and what goes up
it must come down
and shatter on the bed when no one is around
an awkward bow
the crowd's dismay
and someones starts complaining loud
he thinks he overpaid

he spent money on this
heard it shouldn't be missed
and he just couldn't resist

so maybe now I'll get some sleep
hang my costume away
I'll stop feeding on the gossip reports
let the poison critics have their say

so when I walk into a room
my laughter won't be drugged
with everything I'd get for free
if I just join the club

I'll be better than this
better than this
maybe I'll learn to resist

Enabel the Pidgin

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