Five Songs

In a city, any city, on a day like this
a ragged dreamer, feeling high
was singing in the midst
of a milling crowd, all rushing by
to quickly quench the thirst
for the finer things that life can bring
to those who get there first...
get there first...

"Ugly gods, beautiful apes
Like the rabbit Alice followed
You're late, you're late
But do you know the way?"

But the crowd, like every crowd, had heard it all before
some threw money, most walked by
and no one asked for more.
The dreamer, determined, kept singing all day
'till his voice at nightfall slowly
began to fade away...
fade away...
and he kept singin...

"Ugly gods, beautiful apes
Like the rabbit Alice followed
You're late, you're late
But do you know the way?"

And the night, like every night
was peopled with it's folk.
Muggers, lovers, whores and those who come out for a look.
The sympathetic working girl
who heard his voice go dead
took her wages from around his feet
and led him to her bed...
to her bed...

© 1996 Paul Freynet