213 : 11/9/98 : What the Trees Might Say

If I threw down the shackles
of expectation and ignorance
If I threw my watch down the gutter
I could not reclaim my innocence
If I gave it all away
And went into the forest green
And waited to hear what the trees might say
I might find I couldn’t understand what they mean
The trees might say
You’ve gone down a long, long road
They might be amused by me
Such a long journey to figure out where the water flowed
You might go to hell and back
And you might write a million songs
That would take three thousand years
I don’t think I’ve got that long
They might say come sit down under
any one of us and figure it all out
It doesn’t matter which we’re all strangely the same
Feel free to wrestle with your doubt
While we go on
The way we’ve always done and always will
That’s what the trees might say
If I had the time to kill

You can read an explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

Take that windmill

So, that's the end of what I affectionately referred to as "My Pathetic Little Inferno." I've also finished transcribing the second volume of the songs of the day, first project, although there are half a dozen songs left to post. 2 down, 12 to go (except of course I'm generating new books full at the same time).

Writing that mess was an ambiguous experience and transcribing it was too. As a formal work, I mean as actual songs or poems, I have to consider it a failure. The meter is tortured to the point of nonexistence, the narrative is patchy. It's barely readable, let alone singable. It was a real chore to write and throughout I seriously questioned my motivations. I still do. I question the whole thing.

For all that there's a lot going on in that series. Technically, however much a failure it is structurally (and indeed artistically) it pushed my facility for rhyming to the limit - as I mentioned in a prior comment I have never used any kind of rhyming dictionary or similar aid. And for me it was an interesting exercise, theologically, to insert myself fictionally into Dante's medieval hell. The doctrine of hell seems a serious contradiction to the putative compassion of Christianity. And while I am about the opposite of orthodox I don't think it is a doctrine that is easily disposed of without abandoning the canonical Gospels entirely. This conflict becomes a running theme of the series.

Whatever it is, it's done. As to my doubts about the larger project, I persist nonetheless. The two thousandth song of the daily projects (1001 songs completed in the first song plus 999 songs in the second project in less than a couple months) will be written soon, and with it will come an Exciting Announcement. Meanwhile, more songs starting tomorrow, and we'll be getting into volume three, project one in about a week.

212 : 11/8/98 : In The Middle (II) (Canto 34)

We trekked across the ice heading for the middle
that lay a hundred yards beyond
The edge of the great smoking griddle

The pit where I would release the bond
I’d taken at the iron door
And we stood and I bent in the wind like a frond

of a plant that bloomed too late for
the season it was born
And Eliot pointed to the ice floor

And said I’ve shown you what I’d sworn
I would so meditate a moment on the luck
of those below that are planted like an acorn

Frozen in the frozen muck
And I said hey it’s not that the wind blows
that hole has a serious suck

That’s where all the evil goes
he said onward Christian soldier into hell
The sinners frozen under your feet

They’ll wake again for the final bell
but for now it’s just you and the prince
It’s time you finished what you started when you fell...

There will be no violence
cast yourself to the crater
Hereafter, ever after, ever since

You’ll know what it was good for later
so go and take your leap
Get on the escalator

Going down, you’ve promises to keep
back in your sunny town
Miles to go before you sleep

I won’t see you again not down
there in the dreamless time
So say goodbye here destiny’s clown

And I thought back on my downward climb
I clasped my guardian’s hand
And I scuffed my shoes of the icy rime

I picked traveling over that land
and took a running start
And didn’t look to see ol’ T.S. watch me from his stand

I just leapt out into the heart
Out into the middle of it all
And I flew towards the center like a dart

I twisted in the great stony hall
Past where the fog cleared
At a great chamber, a sphere I felt my fall

slow as the last denizen appeared
Hew was as small as a walnut
But I felt his mass pull at me as a I neared

I almost slowed to a stop but
I was still moving as I passed
His eyes were closed his chin rested on his gut

A dark aura around him was cast
A kernel a seed of evil stone
a tiny seethingly still iconoclast

I felt the pull on sinew and bone
I rotated once when I faced him
And drifted slowly slowly, helpless and alone

But before I could grow to grim
I picked up speed the other way
So soon I saw the outer rim

of the way out I saw the new day
was dawning on the other side
And I was weightless free I didn’t have to stay

And so I just stayed on the ride
rose above the atmosphere
And from my freefall orbit glide

I saw the planet hell laid out tier by tier
The grooves cut deep the levels I never knew
From way out there was no pain or fear

And my distance grew and grew
And I felt myself passing through

fin

This song is the last of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

211 : 11/7/98 : Cocytus (II) (Canto 33)

954 : 2 ?


I was getting cold and stamping my feet
and a silence rose in the wake of our conflict
which T.S. broke saying here’s a pair you need to meet

I think that you may think me derelict
in my office as your guide
You fail to see the limitations on me are strict

You’re looking in on this from the outside
And you judge what you see in haste
And fail to see inner truth that will abide

When providence sees you once again placed
in your home; but now observe
These I have pointed out frozen to the waist

And deemed by hell fit to deserve
the punishment of being paired
Locked together here at the next to last curve

of this frozen hell: so ask what sin they shared
they were locked in struggle, the clawed and scratched
So I kicked them about the heads till both glared

Up at me, and one of them unlatched
his tongue and said hell has made us twins
In mockery of how we were from the world snatched

So monstrous were our sins
We killed our kin and ate our young
So now we struggle here and neither wins

And I said yeah but have you learned your lesson
Do you think your punishment is just
I have become confused, I’m not the only one

Who finds himself hard-pressed to trust
The Vision of this pit of fire and ice
So tell me, then from where you’re frozen in the crust

Locked forever in the diabolical vice
Listen then said the one that I’d invited
to speak; and understand the nature of the prize

We are joined who were divided
by hatred as unnatural as a tree’s for a leaf
We share the fate of all who have incited

Their fellows to abandon unity for grief
All are born to die
And our walk under the sun is brief

And you will understand if you try
That it is all simply allegory
False unity from false division meets your eye

Can you not comprehend the simple moral of this story
We are all joined by blood by fear by pain
Yet we all deny our unity and so deny the glory

That might be all the way back to Cain
All who will not join must then remain

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

210 : 11/6/98 : Cocytus (I) (Canto 32)

We were lifted down on a giant’s palm
I couldn’t stop the spinning in my head
We stepped off onto ice and I felt a qualm

I don’t know where I am I said
I am no better than a dog
I might as well be down among the dead

I was looking into the icy fog
that from afar I had mistook for smoke
well are you gonna stand all day agog

my guide said, do you take this as a joke?
There’s nothing funny about it is there
so gather up your cloak

and let’s get onto where
we have been bound to travel
there’s no time to stare

at those who wait for the great judge’s gavel
to lay down judgment with a mighty strike
who wait for it all to unravel

and I said man you know what I’d like
I’d like something to make a tiny bit of sense
and I’ve never been down this strange a pike

but here in the devil’s demesne
I don’t feel like I’m finding a single clue
It’s all just static more interference

I’ve got no insight into the evil that men do
I have no idea why I’m here
And he said I’ve been over all of this with you

And I thought that everything was very clear
let’s have this conversation one more time
Try not to let it all fly out the other ear

your head is wrapped up in reason and rhyme
you’re obsessed over the question why
but when you’re facing the uncertain and sublime

these questions ring hollow while real truth passes by
open your eyes and look around
you aren’t here to find out how come we have to die

I looked up at the stone sky, I looked at the icy ground
I looked at all the sinner sliding listlessly
I listened and I didn’t make a sound

Let’s go I finally said it doesn’t matter to me
sometimes you simply have to get things done
I feel I’ve been at this a month and I can tell you honestly

It hasn’t been a lot of fun
all I want to do anymore is get back underneath the sun

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

209 : 11/5/98 : Skyline (Canto 31)

Across the bridge that spanned the gap
We came to a sloping plain
That ended a mile or two from the ledge of the eight gap

We had crossed in our tour of the valley of pain
And the Poet took me by the arm
And said there is the final drain

Whence flows all the evil and the harm
That men create in all their days on earth
And we will test the limits of the charm

That’s forced the denizens of hell to give us berth
when we come to the center of that hole
We’ll test what His promises are worth

Still it is where we must achieve our goal
So keep your faith strong within you
And with that we began our descent into the great bowl

that ended in a hole that was two
thousand miles across or more it seemed
And as we came near a mighty trumpet blew

And I peered through the smoke and I thought I dreamed
Far ahead I thought I saw a skyline
I imagined hell’s highrises and tenements that teemed

With all the souls who fell to the final incline
of that inexorable downward slope
I thought their fate would soon be mine

But when I asked T.S. about it he said nope
The distance and the smoke deceive your eyes
As we draw closer you’ll see a sight to test your hope

And as I squinted at what I had took for a highrise
I saw a sight that nearly stopped my heart
For before me stood a man of monstrous size

When he shifted it gave me a dreadful start
I knew a giant a hundredth of his height
could effortlessly tear me apart

But Eliot said these creatures will not fight
Seeing the evidence of my fear
At this unexpected sight

These guardians know why we’re here
We’ve an appointment with the Prince of flies
They guard the ring the final tier

We have to cross, and past that lies
only the void at the center of the underworld
Where we must cast off all earthly ties

That we have left to go where the devil’s curled
Around himself in the evil core of hell
At the center of it the pit where he was hurled

And after that I cannot truly tell
But first we must attain that central well

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

208 : 11/4/98 : Through This Slum (Canto 30)

So I walked steady and I walked straight
And didn’t bother to look right or left
As we walked that mile long bridge at a rate

That would carry us across the cleft
In half an hour or so
I and I closed my ears to the bereft

and mad howlings from below
I paid no attention as they cursed and tore
each adding to another’s burden of woe

I was content to finish my chore
I didn’t need to understand
I didn’t need to know the final answer any more

I just crossed the wasted land
All the darkness madness and stench
I was dreaming of Laguna sand

I was dreaming of a park bench
Where I once spent an afternoon
My guide brought me back with a wrench

Saying we’ll be there soon
Up above back from where we’re from
I can smell the angle of the moon

I told you I’d lead you through this slum
Soon out the other side we’ll come

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

207 : 11/3/98 : Penultimate Hell (Canto 29)

I sat there at the far edge evidently
quite a while, staring at the ground
and my guide put his hand on my shoulder gently

said are you waiting for a friend to come around
It’s no use this track’s as long
As a thread about the equator wound

And whoever you’re looking for is gone
They may find a way out yet
only the Creator knows if that’s right or wrong

And anyway after a while you get
so blinded to the misery and horror
So don’t kick back don’t light a cigarette

Remember what we’re here for
Strange as it seems this is the way back
You can only get to your hill through your iron door

So we kept on along the track
And another bridge loomed up
And I said I’ve repented of my attack

And he said don’t be so quick to grab the cup
that is not yours to drink
Well even though you’re just a pup

You’ve every privilege to thin
The thoughts you have whatever they may be
When something’s rotten, a wise man won’t ignore the stink

And these are hard things that you see
the truth is not a thing easily discerned
And there is always mystery

And you are bound to speak out when concerned
And we walked and spoke about this thing
This place this journey what was to be learned

And we came soon to this final ring
The last before the great smoking pit
The last before I could see no way but the big fling

Out into the big black: no way around it
And that ring was with an oily darkness filled
And a fearsome stench that made me grit

My teeth the smell of a million killed
in a hundred thousand abattoirs
And sounds of unholy bedlam spilled

Out voices numbered in the stars
And I saw haunted eyes in the dark
Like caged things peering out through the bars

And I said before we ascend the arc
Of this bridge to that center of destiny
And finish this walk in the park

Explain this penultimate hell to me
It seems strange that the final roll-
call of the damned is such simplicity

Just a dark and stinking hole
Full of miserable mourning shades
No fire no lizards not a single soul

Split open from asshole to shoulderblades
And Eliot said welcome to the kingdom of the false
See and know wherever the dark invades

Wherever light and sweetness stalls
Lies and falseness came there first
Brought by the taint inside your walls

Any who finally lose the thirst
to know what’s right and what is true
To this final ditch they’re cursed

This is what all falseness comes to
So remember no matter how much it seems
That you need lies to pull you through

The path cannot be found in lying dreams
From the Father of Lies all darkness streams

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

206 : 11/2/98 : Gore (Canto 28)

944 : 0 ?


I shook my head and said man what’s this for
man this trip is gone seriously foul
What you wanna show me this disgusting gore

I said keep it shut and bite back your scowl
I don’t wanna hear what I’m meant to learn
From looking at blood and gore and hanging bowel

Yeah look at all the poor heathens burn
Look at the bastards get their due
I can’t see that I shouldn’t take a turn

And take the bloody sword and suffer too
I’ve sewn a little discord in my day
And why don’t y ou admit it, so have you

So should I speak to these poor souls, what should I say
Should I ask them what’s gonna go down
As I roll along this millenium way

like I need some damned demented clown
to tell me that it’s all going south
to tell me I got no future in this town

I’m crazy, I’m running at the mouth
But this ain’t justice and this ain’t God
And there’s no other word that rhymes with south

I’m sick of this the way here is too broad
Let’s just get on with this dismal plod

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

205 : 11/1/98 : Long Ride (Canto 27)

T.S., I said master and guide
Not to show ingratitude
This is getting to be a long ride

Throught the diabolical latitude
and if I wouldn’t be too remiss
I think it would improve my attitude

To move beyond the circle of this
parliment of flames
And make our way further into Dis

Sure there are a thousand stories a thousand names
No need to talk to any more political types
And Eliot said hey kid nobody blames

You for getting caught up and your gripes
are understandable. We’ll get you movin’ on along right down the pipes

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

204 : 10/31/98 : Drawn to Flame (Canto 26)

942 : 12 ?


And standing looking back I said America
you’re going to reap the evil that you’ve sewn
And all the time unknowing you’re passing the

point of no return, beyond the pale beyond the known
And maybe it would be a better thing
To lay down and die, the cancer’s only grown

More in more, in spite of all your fighting
All your fury and your sound
But in the end you will worship your king

Of filthy lucre until it drives you in the ground
And having said my piece we moved along
Listened to a rising roaring sound

I can’t express it in a song
The storm of the multitude inferno
A hundred thousand millions souls strong

On the verge of the ditch where the wicked counselors go
Like sparks from the welders arc
Like crystals in a storm of snow

Like fireflies above the water, old Smith Park
Anonymous wrapped in fire all the same
Eliot said souls burn in the eternal dark

Wrapped in the fire that drove them to seek a name
by leading their society into the shadows
Trapped like moths around a candle, drawn to flame

I said look at that strange two headed flame that goes
twisted and turning through the gloom
I watched in wonder as the flames flickered fell and rose

Eliot said wait until that flame looms
close to us and wonder at the sight
Two ancient generals who shared a watery tomb

Two souls burning in the endless night
And we didn’t we didn’t say a word
When the twin flame passed us narrowly on the right

I listened intently but all I heard
Was a silence trapped inside silence that endured

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

203 : 10/30/98 : Transformation Proceeds from Within (Canto 25)

933 : 3 ?


The miscreant we faced, hearing my philosophy
answered with both fists middle fingers stretched out
Saying here’s to you and your god and all the sophistry

You don’t know a goddamned thing about
A voice hissed let me handle this one in my ear
A snake slithered over my shoulder and in a flash twined about

This mocker’s neck and mouth and choked off his jeer
and soon was joined by hosts of his scaly kin
they hissed we’ll roll this troublemaker right on out of here

No sooner said they had him rolling like a rolling pin
and we were being accosted by a group of three
One exclaimed where’s Tony? It’s happening again

Before I could ask what his meaning might be
He was confronted by a lizard with too many legs
That reared up an fell upon him instantly

like the black widow having fertilized her eggs
began to tear and devour it’s hapless mate
and he was down upon his knees like one who begs

TS said I think it’s just a little late
for supplication now but I barely heard him
so absorbed was I by the altered state

That over took those strugglers limb by limb
their substance was absorbed into a nasty mass
that sprouted wings and talons like a corrupt seraphim

And what manner of creature came to pass
I don’t really think it has a name
And if I thought that nothing could surpass

This strange transformation, who could blame
me for my terrible surprise
when out of a smoking pit another reptile came

And pegged another of the three direct between the eyes
his eyes crossed a little, but he didn’t say a word
Transformation proceeds from within, so say the wise

said my guide, but seeing that again I scarcely heard
merely stood and watched along with me the terrible
double transformation that then occurred

still lodged firmly in the second sinner’s skull
the lizard thrashed and then began to swell
until it seemed the space inside that damaged head was full

It burst forth and the completion of the spell
formed its body into a golem of the same man he’d assaulted
and in a reversal that surprised me even there in hell

The second reached into the hole in his shattered head
and with fierce tugging pulled away his skin
just as any reptile will its worn skin shed

he shed his human flesh and flashed a lizard’s grin
And to Eliot I said what did your proverb mean
that transformation proceeds from within

he said whether your shell be dirty or clean
the inner man will in the end always be seen

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

202 : 10/29/98 : Reptiles (Canto 24)

When we had made our way to the fallen bridge
to which our burdened friend had alluded
And we stood on the edge of the treacherous ridge

I said I think we may have been deluded
But T.S. just said Excelsior!
And started down along the rubble where a great arch once was rooted

Over massive broken rocks we clambered for
what seemed like hours and when we hit
The bottom I saw we had another nasty climb in store

Halfway up I said I’ve had it
I felt like my lungs were gonna pop
but my guide said onward up out of this pit

and on to the next you cannot stop
this thing that you’ve begun now
and I said I’ll push until I drop

And so I put my shoulder back to the plow
and managed to make the climb
and when we saw what waited for us next I said, wow,

I ain’t never seen so many reptiles at one time
Lizards, snakes, an evil looking turtle or two
A sea of forest, emerald teal and lime

And my guide said here’s a pretty specimen for you
pointing out a man positively swarming with snakes
who seeing our attention said I’ll make you rue

the day you two day-tripping flakes
decided to intrude upon my misery
And Eliot said hold on man this won’t take

a minute and heaven knows your time is free
tell our friend here how you came to this estate
and no sooner said than we’ll just be

along our way we’ve got a date
to keep, you see with the dark prince
it wouldn’t do now would it to be late

and the man gave a snarl that made me wince
and said what’s really to tell
I killed and stole and destroyed and since

I died unrepentant I wound up in hell
Well that’s not such a great story
is it friend but mark this well

I tell you true I’m still not sorry
for the evil that I’ve done
I stalked my fellow man like quarry

I stole for sport and killed for fun
I’m a human monster and there’s many
more down here I’m not the only one

And T.S. said now see do you still think there’s any
question the divine will is just
here’s a man who would kill you for a penny

Can’t you see that sometimes evil must
simply be forced to desist
ashes to ashes kid dust to dust

there must be a place for those who insist
on making things so black
nut I said couldn’t He just make them cease to exist?

‘Cause I have to say this eternity on the rack
Seems more malice than divine
seems a lot like payback

And I’m sorry if I’ve crossed the line
But I question if His justice is the same as mine

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

201 : 10/28/98 : Hypocrites (Canto 23)

Behind us was a ruckus, T.S. said ho showtime
We scrambled back up on our feet
A demon shouted hey you mortal slime

We made a swift retreat
But soon as we came up to the cliff’s brink
I said I think they’ve got us beat

But my guardian quick as a wink
Threw me over his shoulder
And slid down into the next sink

We took refuge behind a boulder
And looked up to see our demons pause
And seeing their trail had grown colder

Than they could follow they gave up their cause
And as they turned back we went on
T.S. said they were held to their own circle by the laws

That God had set down a very long
time ago, and soon we heard a loud,
raucous chorus of sighs and wails, and soon we came upon

A suffering and circling crowd
They were laden down with fearsome stones
These hypocrites carry the weight of all they vowed

in Judgment against their fellows and now they moan
For by the same sins they used to burden others
They stored up these weights when they were alone

The poet said, and circle eternally cheek to jowl one to another
Mind this lesson and never make haste
To add to the yoke of their brother

And one so burdened said who are these two so chaste
that they carry nothing at all
As they pass through the endless waste

Of all we poor casualties of the fall
I said well I’m a tourist here
But while you take a turn with you don’t take it for gall

If I ask you what brought you so near
to the center of hell’s great wheel
And he said I was one chosen to steer

the ship of state, to guide it’s keel
through rocky shoals in troubled waters
an office I rose to through influence and appeal

A thousand smiles and handshakes and kisses for the sons and daughters
But I had only evil and lust for power in my heart
And for power turned a blind eye to the slaughter

of innocents and played an instrumental part
In making my nation worse and weaker
That’s the politician’s special art

And he said to T.S. you and this mortal seeker
Go ahead and ask around
we’re all pretty much the same but I hear it’s even bleaker

upstairs, hypocrites every day even more abound
Just then we came upon a figure who
was staked out on the ground

And trod on by all who passed through
that circle of punishment
And our new companion said this one may be known to you

The father of politicians the statesman who sent
An innocent man to be staked to a tree
Simply because it was expedient

And T.S. said that’s sure a sight to see
but tell us friend ‘cause our’ schedule’s tight
Where’s the nearest bridge to the next circle of misery

He said the bridges are all down but bear to the right
And you’ll come upon a lowland
Where if you’re agile you just might

find the passage you demand
And that’s the best that I can say
And T.S. said well now don’t just stand

there we must be on our way
We gotta get through the rest of hell by the end of the day

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

Weekly status, now with continuity tracking

I explained my original intentions behind the weekly status report here. I've decided to add an additional marker that indicates how long a string of songs I've written without missing a day during the ongoing project. By way of example, today's status:

926 : 1 ?


Explanation

Icons indicate if I'm running a song backlog and if so how much.


926 : 1 Songs written in the current project : Songs written without missing a day

(Whenever I'm running a backlog the latter number will be zero)

The question mark links to this explanation. I'd like to say that I've only written one song without missing a day because I purposely skipped a day to officially start the public count. But that would be a lie. Although I've been avoiding serious backlogs, I'm still missing a lot more days than I'm satisfied with. As usual, increasing the amount of status data I'm publishing is an attempt to motivate myself to better performance.

Including the 1,001 songs written in the original project (the one I'm currently blogging) I'm nearing 2,000 daily songs written so far.

It Pours

I generally eschew status reports because I reckon not a whole lot of people, in the scheme of things, are reading, and those that do know me well enough to drop me a line if they really want to know what's going on.

Well, what's been going on the last few weeks is basically just one expletive deleted thing after another, related to getting slammed by work with my main money gig, the whole family getting sick, my spouse traveling for work now (making me sole childcare provider for a few days)... It's been one of those months, now bleeding into the next one.

BUT. Barring further unforeseen adversity expect, pretty soon, resumed song of the day posting (hoping to quickly wrap up the Inferno), a thrilling added feature to the weekly status dashboard (I know, you didn't think it could get any more exciting. Let the anticipation overwhelm the fear...), a word about my exciting, recently restarted/recreated and immediately stalled by the aforementioned unexciting personal life issues other music weblog project, Phree Musique, and absolutely no updates about my secret weblog that I won't ever mention again so don't ask about it.

On November 12th, I'd say.

200 : 10/27/98 : Interlude in Hell, A Minor (Canto 22)

We were hustling down a path, and not far behind us
The hell patrol were fishing out their fellows
To my surprise my poet guide said let’s stop and discuss

The shape of the bellows
that stoke the great fire
And the characteristic reds and yellows

Of the clay that line the sullen mire
And several other things of similar import
While our former guardians back there reacquire

Their fallen comrades from their hapless port
Give them a chance to get back on our trail
Just some facts and figures to fill out your report

When you return from this travail
up to the lands above
Where you must carry on the search for your grail

I said man you’re crazy, those fiends are gonna throw down the glove
when they see the way we’ve slipped away
I know we’re on divine duty sheltered by divine love

That doesn’t mean we should invite foul play
At the hands of that slimy mob
Let’s live to chat hell another day

And anyway why this sudden urge to natter and nob
We’ve had plenty of better chances
than here pinned between those who steal and those who rob

He said to put it plain your tale advances
too quickly from its guided track
You’ve gotten ahead of yourself, you’re missing subtle nuances

So I have to stop and hold this tack
Of pointless exposition for a little more
consider it an interlude in hell, a minor setback

And anyway you could use a breather before
You get along to the final pit
There’s lots of evil and nastiness in store

Ahead so for now let’s make the best of it
We’ve a few moments to linger, and talk while we sit.

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

199 : 10/26/98 : Tarpits (Canto 21)

Down the next slope we came to another plain
Much like the first but not with open graves
But rather boiling tar ran in the lanes

Chiseled into the rocks as an artist engraves
a stone for the printing press
My guide said watch that you behave

Yourself follow my word and do not second guess
me the devils that work the tarpit are a wily crew
As is fitting here where the yes is no, and the no is yes

And seeing some approach said do not let them see you
hide yourself behind the rocks and watch
I’ll signal you when it’s safe and don’t come out until I do

As he approached them I watched through a notch
in the stones I hid behind
The leader sneered and grabbed his crotch

That perverse and grotesque lot still chill my mind
their plastic heads and three piece suits
They carried briefcases and gnawed on skulls like rinds

Of pomegranate, tearing at the deep red fruits
There seemed to arise an altercation
But my protector stood firmly in his boots

And when it seemed he had the situation
in hand, he motioned me to join
The leader said imagine my elation

To hear a mortal had girded up his loins
And made the crossing to our bitter land
Where all the varied malefactors pay their dues in all their varied coins

So honored guest take me by the hand
We’ll take you on a tour of the tarpits
We’ll make a jolly band

My guide whispered aside to me its best we keep our wits
about us, this twisty lot’s not to be trusted
This snake oil slick routine’s an act, it’s

A safe bet that we’ll soon be disgusted
by the nature that all fiends share
The tarpits are where grafters and extortioners get busted

The demon leader declaimed with a tour guide air
The sticky fingered lot, ha ha they’re hiding now
But I think one’s peeking up over there

Then he barked out hey let’s show ‘em how
we do things here boys and in a flash
his minions, with a satirical bow

To my guide and I, made a dash
for the soul the demon foreman pointed out
And no sooner had him out but put him to the lash

The poet said well can we have a word with the poor lout
Your boys are beating into paste
Let’s find out what he’s all about

Although that sorry inmate’s face was a tarred and bloody waste
I thought maybe I’d seen him on the television
And seeming to sense that I had placed

Him, he said if you’re gonna feature me in your revision
Of a better story by a better scholar than you are
His voice dropped to a whisper he said well that’s your decision

But I tell you a’lurking back in the tar,
A sorry lot of stellar congressmen
Lawyers, bankers, and accountants are

Waiting for my signal to come out in the open
Fade back and I’ll whistle up the whole brigade
And you can the bipartisan session then

And leave me out of the whole charade
One of the pack piped up and said it’s sure a shame
It’s been so long since we had an all out raid

So let’s hang back and let Mr. Doesn’t-Want-His-Name
In the papers up topside set his trap
And scare us up a fine flock of game

To give a good taste of the strap
And with that word they faded back
And the erstwhile prisoner they left there in the gap

Jumped up with out warning and leaped into the crack
of bubbling pitch he’d been pulled from
Only a heartbeat passed and two hellspawn launched an attack

screaming catch that dirty cheating bum
I couldn’t help but whisper in Eliot’s ear
That our guides here were awfully dumb

to trust the sort of criminals who wind up here
He just shrugged and said call it a vice
Just then one of the demons gave a shout of fear

He’d ventured too far into the tar and paid the price
And in his struggle pulled his partner in as well
Who bellowing in rage, was carving a slice

out of the first demon who fell
Into the trap they’d sought to set
And T.S. rolled his eyes and said another day in hell

But say he continued while the rest try to get
their fellows out of the tar
for a moment they’re sure to forget

To keep an eye on where you and I are
And things as they’re going it might be wise
To make ourselves scarce and make sure we’re far

away by the time they realize
That we’re as good for sport as anyone
And try to take us by surprise

You’ve seen what they are and what they’ve done
So we’d best take this chance to run

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

198 : 10/25/98 : Unfortunate (Canto 20)

890 ?


“Wow” I said “T.S. that’s really unfortunate
The way these cats are twisted up is very cruel”
Stumbling slowly round a massive course circular and flat

Heads between their legs like some contortionist fool
Their tears leaking back into their ears
“These are those unfortunates who sought to use the arcane tool

Of the future to seek fortune through their years
Those who twist the spirit to gain
Will always wind up in hell’s gears”

I said “this seems excessive for fortune tellers’ lane”
He said “you’re not seeing the whole show
All seek the future but the difference is plain

Of those who seek the path they go
And those who seek fortune in the paths of others
Too many are led astray by what they claim to know

The future is denied the sisters and brothers
of the fall: we should not seek to co-opt what we lost
Nor should we contribute to another’s

confusion in facing roads not yet crossed
We should seek to live in our own time
We should seek only our own costs

And he said finish up your twentieth rhyme
And let’s get on with the ever descending climb

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here

197 : 10/24/98 : Mockers (Canto 19)

884 ?


We dropped another ledge down
I was sullen, silent from my guide’s rebukes
And the poet kept his council his face drawn in a frown

But as we approached a strange scene he said “there are no flukes
here, my son, but understanding
is hard, but even so these miserable pukes

May improve your confidence in the divine commanding
of hell’s bleak punishments”
Ranged out around the circle where we were standing

A multitude in sour and soiled vestments
were stuffed up to their shoulders in television sets
That sparked and crackled as if they received some signal sent

Down into this pit And my guide said “I bet
that especially jerky clown over yonder
Will give you a lesson you won’t forget

And some fine points to ponder
and a much needed chance to vent your spleen
And curb your tendency to maunder

over the cursed and unclean
Well these are some who may indeed deserve their fate
These are the very same you’ve seen

in every age they pass the plate
more often than they praise God’s name
their eyes ablaze with greed and hate

they take it all and play a game
of guilt and lies and threats of damnation
Here their ironic fates are all the same

So I bent down and fiddled the knobs as if to change the station
And a voice called “Jimmy is that you you hound
Finally come the final mockery of my ironic situation”

and I replied “well stuck in your tube you mistake the sound
of my voice for your fellow confidence man”
And he replied “so why have you come around”

And I said “Mocker I came to tell you what a huge fan
I am of the charlatans like you
who prosper in your sordid little clan

By the lies that you tell and the evil you do
perverting the truth to line your pocket
How many have been deceived and led astray by you few

Mockers yeah you talked a lot but could not walk it
And I must confess watching you squirm gives me a thrill
It’s good to see you firmly screwed into the socket”

And my man gave me a fine big hug but said “we have no time to kill
We gotta get on down to the next hill”

This song is part of a series loosely based on Dante's Inferno. You can read an essay about this series here. You can read a more general explanation of the origin of these lyrics here