" Lost In The Flood "
"....And somebody said, hay man, did you see that?
His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud...."
The ragamuffin gunner is returnin'
Home like a hungry runaway
He walks through town all alone
He must be from the fort
He hears the high school girls say
His countryside's burnin' with wolfman fairies
Dressed in drag for homicide
They hit and run, plead sanctuary
'Neath a holy stone they hide
They're breakin' beams and crosses
With a spastic's reelin' perfection
Nuns run bald, through Vatican halls
Pleadin' Immaculate Conception
And everybody's wrecked on Main Street
From drinkin' unholy blood
Sticker smiles sweet, as Gunner breathes deep
His ankles caked in mud
And I say, "hay Gunner man, That's quicksand
That's quicksand, that ain't mud
Have you thrown your senses to the war
Or did you lose them in the flood?
That pure American brother
Dull eyed and empty faced
Races Sundays in Jersey, in a Chevy stock super eight
He rides 'er low on the hip
On the side he's got "Bound for Glory"
In red, white and blue flash paint
He leans on the hood tellin' racin' stories
The kids call him Jimmy the Saint
Well the blaze and noise boy
He's gunnin' that bitch loaded to the blastin' point
He rides head first into a hurricane
And disappears into a point
And there's nothin' left but some blood where the body fell
That is, nothin' left that you could sell
Just junk all across the horizon
A real highwayman's farewell
And he said, "hay kid, you think that's oil?
Man, that ain't oil, that's blood"
I wonder what he was thinkin' when he hit that storm
Or was he just lost in the flood?
Eighth Avenue sailors in satin shirts
Whisper in the air
Some storfront incarnation of Maria
She's puttin' on me the stare
And Bronx's best apostle
Stands with his hand on his own hardware
Everything stops, you hear five quick shots
The cops come up for air
And now the whiz-bang gang from uptown
They're shootin' up the street
And that cat from the Bronx start's lettin' loose
But he gets blown right off his feet
And some kid comes blastin' around the corner
But a cop puts him right away
He lays on the street, holdin' his leg
Screaming something in Spanish
Still breathing when I walked away
And somebody said, "hay man, did you see that?
His body hit the street with such a beautiful thud"
I wonder what the dude was sayin'
Or was he just lost in the flood?
"Hay man, did you see that?
Those poor cats are sure messed up
I wonder what they're gettin' into
Or were they just lost in the flood?"
