My luggage is listless from bearing witness to going out of business It's aimed like a raygun so casual and careless burning like a cheap cigar, they're shouting "last call" at the bar Unplug the landlines, I'm scrying for the decline and sharpening our knives We'll sever the sinews of this old life and Sing this science into the street Parade the pitfalls of our disbelief In spite of these attempts to stifle the sound Could you keep it down, I can't hold it down I can't Cast down a shadow to cremate the hedgerow The bustle of this town will hum its own elegy even as it drowns I'm out for the last time, sniffing for landmines and calling the bluff on these telltale signs We'll trot out the naysayers' flawed designs and Sing this science into the street Parade the pitfalls of our disbelief In spite of these attempts to stifle the sound Could you keep it down, I can't hold it down Could you keep it down, I can't hold it down Without a care in the world, you are absolutely sure You doubt that there's a loss you can't afford to take To stick it out and not move away You've had enough of this fleeting toughness Too soft to sell yourself on what to think Would be impossible for us to bring to bare our teeth and grit through this grief yet or so-to-speak it Or so to sing this science into the street Parade the pitfalls of our disbelief In spite of these attempts to stifle the sound Could you keep it down, I can't hold it down Could you keep it down, I can't hold it down Could you keep it down, I can't hold it down I can't

On a tree-lined Chebucto, there is an aisle, there is a narrows Between columns of red light, A moonlit path to follow, that follows The hillside, to the northwest arm and the circle of grey where you Tempt the Fates in a grisly roulette, Forget your fears and reserve your regrets, You’re running Fender to fender, and pedal to pedal Asphalt to concrete, rubber to metal On the far coast of the Passage, There is a roar, there is a rumble Of the vinework of the conduits That process crude, produce a pablum For its progeny of complacency, Convenient and commercial they Take a swig and they try to forget, Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em, there aren’t many left Commute a sentence of labour to death and serve it We’ll run, like Pamplona For ruin or for restitution, The red cape of the matador swinging, I hope you can forgive the intrusion Split hooves on the asphalt, ready to rage We’ll ride, tilting at the engines of progress A bull market is upon us Faint strains of an anthem singing We can take it if we want it, if we want to The strange chorus that we belong to Fender to fender, and pedal to pedal Asphalt to concrete, rubber to metal Ride on Aziz, I’ll don this helmet in your memory. In the gridlock of this rush hour A vanguard legion slowly emerges With no recompense for the elements And no regard for hulking deterrents Who march goose-step, in lock-step With an aggressive agenda they wait Chomp the bit for the race to begin Burn it all down, they’ll just build it again, But not us. We’ll run, like Pamplona For ruin or for restitution, The red cape of the matador swinging, I hope you can forgive the intrusion Split hooves on the asphalt, ready to rage We’ll ride, tilting at the engines of progress A bull market is upon us Faint strains of an anthem singing We can take it if we want it, if we want to The strange chorus that we belong to We’ll run, like Pamplona For ruin or for restitution, The red cape of the matador swinging, I hope you can forgive the intrusion Split hooves on the asphalt, ready to rage We’ll ride, and redefine the meaning of progress A bull market is upon us Stigmata of a martyrdom stinging We can take it if we want it, if we want to The great corpus that we belong to

Oh my, oh my, open-heart surgery Oh my, oh my, double bypass Don't lie, it's not fine, she's spilling her guts on the pavement She's bleeding her last as the transfer-trucks pass Oh, how I learned to read the hues of your humours Black bile and yellow, red the blood and your blue tears Now every knock is a heart attack A dense clot and your last battle Each sign is a symptom and that shake was your death rattle so No no no, is it the rack or the pinion? Yeah yeah yeah is she strictly aligned? The orange lights on the ambulance swirl in time with the hazards Please get better Oh my, oh my, open-heart surgery Oh my, oh my, double bypass Don't lie, it's not fine, she's spilling her guts on the pavement She's bleeding her last as the transfer-trucks pass Strapped to the gurney, off to the ER we go With a viscous IV and me muttering "no no no" The prognosis is pulmonary And my pulse is a mayday cry But we have the technology, and besides I'm too proud to say goodbye so No no no, I want a second opinion Yeah yeah yeah, I did everything right The orange light on the dash is a flatline Back in the saddle, charge up the paddles and clear Oh my, oh my, bring back the biopsy Oh my, oh my, spinal transplant Don't lie, it's not fine, but I've got spare parts in the basement And money to burn to make the driveshaft turn Oh my, oh my, open-heart surgery Oh my, oh my, double bypass Don't lie, it's not fine, she's spilling her guts on the pavement And pistons ablaze, she stops and stays As the transfer-trucks pass It's a waste of gas

If you could keep up, why can't you catch up? If you could speak up, why did you shut up? Shut up! If you can't have fun, what fun can you have? If you can't let go, how can you relax? Got a fine sense of present tense We shake an angry vibrato Signed, sealed, send the delivery Certified, open wide, a broadside salvo to swallow Be my, be my accessory Clenching, his knuckles crack, cocking an elbow back I'm plotting my next attack I've decided I'm not gonna fight it For opponents so opposed to restraint In a mindset decidedly violent If I'm conscious I'll remain, remain Empty threats, epithets, demarcate brazen marauders Sabres rattle, scabbards shake silently Teeth bared, fangs drip, this venom runs in the hollow Perforate, punchcard the eulogy Wounded and limping bad Cauterize and counteract I'm launching my next attack I've decided I'm not gonna fight it For opponents so opposed to restraint In a mindset decidedly violent For responses we'll refrain to refrain If you could keep up, why can't you catch up? If you could speak up, why did you shut up? Shut up! If you can't have fun, what fun can you have? If you can't let go, how can you relax? I've decided I'm not gonna fight it For opponents so opposed to restraint In a mindset decidedly violent If I'm conscious I'll remain, remain I've decided I'm dying to fight it For opponents so opposed to restraint In a mindset decidedly violent If I'm conscious I'll remain, remain

“Alright, now listen up; I want this thing to go smooth, and by the numbers” Let’s get it underway, hail the antenna array Among the conifers and standing strange on the crest of a mountain Range, find the yellow line, bisect the vena cava with this knife Sleek and steel with four wheels and x-ray vision Make the incision Bury the needle in the nave of a crumbling steeple Circumnavigate the Great Lakes We will terraform and do it all by the numbers Dictate a great escape, spell out the days and days, Away and getting further, closer now to the bears and the border Patrol a polluted shore, forget to try to earn an encore Remember we’ve encumbered a cub reporter Stop the recorder I don’t care what you told her This interview’s over; we’ve all said our piece Somehow there’s been no relief So bury the hatchet in the back of a tattered atlas Circumscribe the destination If we’re terrified we’ll do it all by the numbers Under the gun in the middle of the 401 When the wipers quit you jumped ship But we’ll still go down and do it all In the convex reflection of a tanker truck The lines move away from us The miles are stripped away We retrace our steps

Deep beneath the Great Lakes in the icy, toxic blue With eyes as big as dinner plates that are fixed on you To size you up for service, you’ll be taken soon By oaken tendrils and by streets that turn to sand And you’ll go willingly, you’ll go quietly Into a life of ease Leviathan holds my heart fast Harpoon in hand, I twist in your grasp Into the light I am drawn like a fly Bioluminescent at a bathyscaphic depth She radiates a beacon to the ones still left To summon from the surface, how she lures and contrives To draw us all to her, her gravity ensures That you’ll go willingly, you’ll go quietly Into a life of ease Leviathan holds my heart fast Harpoon in hand, I twist in your grasp Into the dark we will say our goodbyes At the gate, stepping off Wisps of fate and jet exhaust We debate getting soft And taking off In a haze of contrails Will we deign to set sail In a glacial riptide Will we spread our arms wide Cross a thundering sea On a southern breeze we're taking off Would I go willingly? Would I go quietly? Into a life of ease, her loving arms around me Sing me off to sleep

The city's on lockdown, orders from the top of the hour News casting a blanket of blackout to cover up the snow We covered ourselves in caps and coverlets Conscripted for the shovel brigade Slugged it out in the trenches, content just to hold the line We march, from the mountain to the marsh From the light to the dark, and from the means to the end We will defend Hunker in the bunker, waiting for the outpost call On the edge of a melting iceberg in the face of a winter squall We wonder, yeah we wonder, watching for a semaphore sign But we're squinting in the wind, climbing the steepest incline snowblind The slope of the ramparts glistens in the morning sun Listen to the sharp report of a sly retort when metal grinds the concrete down Resounding, the sound echoes on the walls of the barracks' windswept flank These reprisals are a cheap morale, and now there's rancour in the rank-and-file We'll put it all in a pile And do it all with a smile We're on the company dime for this time Hunker in the bunker, waiting for the outpost call On the edge of a melting iceberg in the face of a winter squall We wonder, yeah we wonder, watching for a semaphore sign But we're squinting in the wind, climbing the steepest incline snowblind Oh but these anomalies make great enemies When it's 30 below, who knows where the blame is When we're feeling evasive When we're digging ourselves in just to dig out We march, from the mountain to the marsh From the light to the dark, and from the means to the end We will defend Hunker in the bunker, waiting for the outpost call On the edge of a melting iceberg in the face of a winter squall We wonder, yeah we wonder, strutting on a vanguard line But we're squinting in the wind, climbing the steepest incline snowblind We're in it for this time

What do you see, oh sleeper when you close your eyes? Fields of green, a golden dog running by Colours of night, etched into jagged lines Spilt the whole canvas wide A dark and foreboding sky is thundering What do you see? What does it mean, the secrets that you spell out in rhyme? The volume I brought you, there's blood upon the pages you write Bound in a long life, lived in a short while Dog-eared a lifetime, we memorized its lines imperfectly So now we take up the cause, silver & steel My sword is yours, I'll bend and I'll kneel Banners aloft, their colours unfurled Standards to bear stoically Weekends to wear Speak to me, what do you see What does it mean? What do I see, sleeper when I close my eyes, The streets of Sydney, saintly but their sins can't hide Parallel lines on a perfect horizon There's polygons rising, their faces aligning Isoceles speak to me, what do you see What does it mean, what does it mean Spirit I cannot deny There's order in entropy, I think I can see the signs But whether free will won I made my decision Fight for the true ones, Our daughters and our sons are struggling So now we take up the cause, silver & steel My sword is yours, I'll bend and I'l kneel Zeppelins aloft on silhouette skies Standards to bear stoically Weekends to wear Speak to me, what do you see What does it mean? for a solemn oath to defend for the bonds that ever may break for a fleeting chance on the wind for the lion’s share of the take for the spoils all plundered again in a wild tempestuous age