Verse:
The spell of Syracuse in the wrath of July
Concrete vapor waves taunting the sky
My arms scraping ground like the walking dead
notions stewing in my swampy head
various odds but mostly ends...
of childhood, nations, humanity...friends
Thinking: Final days make a ponderous pace
to the foot of Lincoln pensive and grave
reflecting, neglected on the square
bearing years of wind and wuthering there
cicadas for friends, distant shade
locust trees out of reach for decades
Metal heads will threaten a man's mental health
unease can't escape, no need for stealth
Perhaps a head of steam wrinkled his brow
and the universe, well it twitched and bowed
as inexplicably “16” breathed
and graves nearby quaked in harmony
Chorus:
Well we summoned Abe Lincoln
cause we all got to thinkin'
that the country was a sinkin'
into piles of prattlin' clackin’ jaws
lost lost lost...lost, this entire cause
Abe was famished, a man reborn
his back was stiff, his coat was worn
so to the pub in the dying morn
for mid-day fare and some barleycorn...
Our two-man rag-and-bone parade!
Verse:
Now you know I don’t take methamphetamine
and never hydroxychloroquine
and the distance between my eyes is, well,
about the mean, you know, 'average,'
I guess you gotta take my word
on, well, the absurdity of this scene
Then we ordered up some Truth, such bitter ale
And chatted long on our national state
and like long-lost brothers into late hours
we drew plans for beacons in towers
to call the bellowers of truth,
to bind up the land's fact-resistant wounds
Congress, governors and such crooked asses
all the shady grifters unsurpassed
except by the autocrat, chief-of-the-grift
with brain cells like rats jumping the ship,
with a head empty as endless void
that even echoes were getting annoyed
Yes Eminent Abe had been a sober man
but afterlife laughs at abstaining plans
so he piled high his new bottlecap friends
then knocked 'em low for portentous ends
he'd counted years, now counting caps
and like a man possessed, planned for 'those chaps'
Chorus:
Well we summoned Abe Lincoln
cause we all got to thinkin'
that the country was a sinkin'
into piles of prattlin' clackin’ jaws
lost lost lost...lost, this entire cause
Abe was famished, a man reborn
his back was stiff, his coat was worn
so to the pub in the dying morn
for mid-day fare and some barleycorn...
Our two-man rag-and-bone parade!
Verse:
Well Abe replied 'That's a gimcrack, not a man!
surrounded by a medieval pack
of firecrackin' devils, men inferior,
marionettes, sticks in their posteriors
I've seen this before, wrestled through lies
Finish your drink, I've prepared my advice
You must put them in a box made by their own
and cut the Fat Man’s ego to bone,
so the others, like dogs smelling blood
will begin to hack and groan and grunt
Drop in some rocks and a bag of sharp sticks
and the rogues will kill each other right quick
Such bloodletting may take time I must confess
at the end you’ll have a bloody mess
when all those masks are pealed, and all stand bare
their dirty secrets stand, naked appear
But your ultimate munition
is letting them choke on smug ambition
then he thanked me for the chat and pints of Truth
left a double eagle in the booth
and dropped an ancient photo on the floor
Willie smiled up, young forevermore
Abe said I am expected elsewhere
and in the locust trees he disappeared
Chorus:
Well we summoned Abe Lincoln
cause we all got to thinkin'
that the country was a sinkin'
into piles of prattlin' clackin’ jaws
lost lost lost...lost, this entire cause
Abe was famished, a man reborn
his back was stiff, his coat was worn
so to the pub in the dying morn
for mid-day fare and some barleycorn...
Our two-man rag-and-bone parade!
