Legacies

Legacies

A Senator on the Eastern Seaboard
Passed out off the coast on his yacht
With top-shelf champagne
Two keys of cocaine
And an escort the taxpayers bought

Voracity drinks many cups fluently
There's plenty of blood to go 'round
Partakes of the chalice
In the heart of the Palace
Tosses scraps of the Truth to the hounds

The banquet feast has been prepared
Yet everyone's marching away
Down the hall to the feeding frenzy
Pirhana on a holiday
Leave gizzards for the buzzards
Livers for the carrion
The tastiest parts are always the hearts
In the Carcasses of Babylon

Blame it on the Christians
Blame it on the Jews
Blame it on your enemies
Spin it on the news

The Guillotine Operators
Local Number Six-Sixty-Six
Is carrying signs
On a picket line
Demanding improved benefits

Says a man in voice barely audible
Above the grinding of the axes
"I didn't beat my wife
Or take anyone's life
I got thirty years for not paying taxes"

If a man leaps from a rooftop
Splatters himself on the ground
And there's no one there to see it
Has he really made any sound?
What is the sound of one hand slapping?
Where have all the philosophers gone?
Each answer more questions raises
In the Mazes of Babylon

Blame it on the Christians
Blame it on the Jews
Blame it on your enemies
Spin it on the news

Somebody lost their head last night
Somebody went off a roof
Better left to those
Executions disposed
Which never require proof

Statesmen speak solidarity
With Operators of Guillotines
Caches of Rx drugs
Armies of thugs
Market images clean and pristine

Papa's in the parlor
Gave Catholicism up for Lent
Mama's with the landlord
Givin' up the rent
The money went to a magic bullet
Train they'll all ride away on
But no one rides Transit Authority free
In the Tunnels of Babylon

Blame it on the Christians
Blame it on the Jews
Blame it on your enemies
Spin it on the news

Newscast filters network in
De-programming the crimes
They say with a wink
It don't pay you to think
But the Eternal pays Time no mind

A favor, should you be so gracious
Place me face up toward the guillotine's track
With a smirk and a wink
I will speak what I think
Look you square in the eye, "I'll be back!"

They love the children on the Hill
Sleepovers arranged after school
Raise the Cups of Desire
Where gold is the Golden Rule
They're gonna do unto others, all right
A toast to the Great Beyond
But no one makes mention of favors
In the Bedrooms of Babylon

Blame it on the Christians
Blame it on the Jews
Blame it on your enemies
Spin it on the news

Truth resurrects on a white steed
Rides Vengeance upon the Hordes
Eyes of fire and warning
On a great awful morning
Who live by will die by the sword

Eyeballs will melt in their sockets
Tongues will melt in their mouths
Flesh melts from the bone
As you stand, man alone
Your time to atone has run out

Eternal legacies rise above
The flesh-eating ground down below
If Barnum don't getcha, you can bet Bailey will
Oh, we have put on such a dazzling show
Monuments are circus tents
Our names and our deeds shall live on
Tributes to the wretched etched into stone
In the Boneyards of Babylon

 © John Kennan 8-26-17