Best Intentions

Glib and insouciant, the president makes jokes about the madness he’s unleashed,

surrounded by his paymasters, who, rubbing sweaty palms together, gather round a feast;

Meanwhile men and women die on foreign fields; 

war is a commodity and death is all it yields

And it’s all over in time,

We lose our bodies first, and then we lose our minds

And when we lose our memories we rush to get in line

And rejoin the dance

We spin round and round,

and round and round

Till black is white and up is down

Meanwhile...

somewhere on Saturn a wise and precocious child stares in disbelief

At a holograph that shows a world not far away where battles rage and hatreds never cease

Moved to act, he vows to heal the suffering he sees; 

makes his deal with destiny, and leaves his life of ease

And it’s all over in time,

He sheds his body first, and then he sheds his mind

And shedding last his memory, rushes to get in line

And enjoin the dance

spinning round and round,

and round and round

and round 

Meanwhile...

hearts filled with gratitude, two parents gaze with pride upon their unexpected child

who is wise beyond his years, and very clear that he is here to serve a purpose that propels him from inside

Magically, it seems, he grows up in the public’s eyes; 

soon powerful men rush in and chart his stellar rise

And it's all over in time,

They push him forward till he's frontmost in the line

and, having drowned his memory in flattery and wine

they enjoin the dance

they spin round and round

and round and round

and round

Meanwhile….

he wonders why even now the stars seem to call to him, when he looks at the sky on winter nights

Could it be that he’s still the same child who long ago believed that he was sent to set the world aright?

And it’s all over in time,

We lose our bodies first, and then we lose our minds

And when we lose our memories we rush to get in line

And rejoin the dance..

and spin round and round and round and round and round......