Comedian

 My neighbor came to my door asking for a half a cup of sorrow

So that we might come to know each other better in the lull 

Between the air raid sirens and I asked her in for tea and then we 

Smiled there in the rubble of what used to be my home 

And sang the only song that really stands up

To the mess that men will make

When they are finished being sweet and gentle boys 

And then they rise up from the ashes of their innocence 

To break the world and then we all sing:

God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh

In Memphis Tennessee there is a window in a basement

Shining green tornado skies down on a bunkbed and a bookshelf

And the girl  who’s down there hiding from her high school full of zombies

While her grandpa’s on the back porch smoking weed and watching

All the skinny squirrels that chase each other up and down the scraggy maples

And if he would only tell her of the lover that he jilted

Then the two of them would understand that they are

Roughly the same person and sing

God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh

Have you ever been so wretched that you sat there with your oatmeal

And your coffee in a Starbucks and you cried alone in public

And then noticed every soul around you humming like an orchestra

Just warming up and then there was the hush before the first note 

God is a comedian playing to an audience that is too afraid to laugh