The Door In The Wasteland
We have crossed the threshold of fear
And our true desires are finally near
Across the great landscape of evermore
There stands imagination’s door
And we so wish to knock on it
Look for the light to be lit
In the shattered window, beside
There where our soul’s shadow, hides
Let us in, oh please let us in
We so promise never more to sin
We shall not kill, we shall not steal
We shall let all of mankind’s wounds, heal
We shall not worship false idols or Gods
We shall not follow trite and passing fads
For we are the prodigal children come home
And we feel, tired and battered, and alone
Please, of please, Father won’t you let us in?
Turn on the light, let’s end the fight
You have no clue — what we’ve been — through
And there are hidden fears
Within the alcove of tears
Rotting away, like so many beached fish
You can’t make them go away with a wish
They are the residue of our hurried life
Split apart as though with a fish knife
There is a desert where there once was a sea
A vast wasteland plain, as far as the eye can see
Can you see the giant vulture as it soars?
Can you see the way we’ve all become whores?
There is no gold on the streets
Only death between the sheets
There is no moral profit in making men suffer and die
And it is a powerful drug that makes it easy to lie
It is so very fine to be on top
Bury a friend, blow away a cop
But we have no use for the white plague anymore
We wish only to be let in the door
We have no use for the guns and the swords
We are very tired of politician’s words
Our patience has worn so very, very thin
Please, oh Father, we will no more, no more sin
Forgive us for our trials and tribulations
For the rape and pillaging of earthly nations
Forgive us for our greed and our hubris
For how we stuff ourselves and the poor fleece
And Father, please, oh please make it stop
Make the pain in our heads go away
We feel so frenzied, of exhaustion ready to drop
Won’t you kill our demons, won’t you slay… them?
Because we regret, we regret our actions
Moving to the beat of radical reactions
Listening to fear instead of love
Worshiping the vulture instead of the dove
We have fallen and prostrated ourselves
Against the merchandise resting on the shelves
We have elevated to a near-divinity the credit card
And the international monetary fund, and it’s hard
It really is hard to stop all this maddens
That fills our ripped out hears with sadness
And the dessert that is the life of man
Devoid of the night, burning away in the sun
Where nothing grows, and no life can sprout
Where you can die, or you can shout
But where no one will find you, so lost you can be
Just as surely as if you were, rubbish or debris
Suddenly this plain became alive
Busy as a giant flat beehive
Millions, uncounted millions came to be
Animals and fishes and you and me
Plants that crawled and walked
Tigers and lambs that laughed and talked
And the light in the window pane
Came suddenly on, and we felt flee our pain
Mended was the shattered glass
And the moon came up in the sky
And the dew glistened on the grass
And we were reborn, we have un-died
Father, oh Father is that you by the door?
Is it your footsteps I hear on the wooden floor
Is it you who is walking through the door?
Is that your light, is it you who fills me with lore?
Because contrition we have shown
He has had the door thrown
Open and invited us in
Because we have promised nevermore to sin.
