Motherland

Where in hell can you go
far from the things that you know,
far from the sprawl of concrete
that keeps crawling its way
about a thousand miles a day?
Take one last look behind,
commit this to memory and mind.
Don’t miss this wasteland
this terrible place, when you leave
keep your heart off your sleeve.
Motherland cradle me, close my eyes,
lullaby me to sleep.
Keep me safe, lie with me,
stay beside me, don’t go,
don’t you go.

Oh, my five & dime queen
tell me what have you seen?
The lust and the avarice
the bottomless, the cavernous greed
is that what you see?

Motherland cradle me, close my eyes,
lullaby me to sleep.
Keep me safe, lie with me,
stay beside me, don’t go.
It’s your happiness,
I want most of all
and for that I’d do anything at all

Oh mercy me!
If you want the best of it,
or the most of all
if there’s anything I can do at all.
Now come on shot-gun bride,
what makes me envy your life
Faceless, nameless, innocent
blameless, and free,
what’s that like to be?

Motherland cradle me, close my eyes,
lullaby me to sleep.
Keep me safe, lie with me,
stay beside me, don’t go,
don’t you go.