Stranger

When I was a child, my mother

Would tuck me in to bed

And each night as she kissed me

These are the words that she said

She said: Don’t go to bed with strangers

Don’t play with the dead

Always keep your wits sharp

Like an axe inside the shed

When I was just a school boy

My father, he spoke unto me

He said: Boychick, my son, don’t trust anyone

And remember that nothing is free

And the world is full of strangers

The world is full of dread

The world is full of sharpened wits

And millions of tears you will shed

When I was young man

My professor at university

Said: Advice is corrupting!

Don’t ever be trusting!

Don’t show your emotion!

Human suffering is an ocean

And it’s dark at the bottom of the sea

And there’s no such thing as a stranger

We’re all equally backwards and wrong

Sharpen axes not wits

Bones are broken by sticks

And you’ll never be free till you’re strong

Well, young men grow older

And the world gets colder

Though it never was warm to begin

Don’t let down your guard

For the reaper works hard

And he will not take pause ‘till you’re dead

Now I am old and I’m rusty

My troubles like sand on the beach

They can’t be calculated, I always have waited

For something that’s just out of reach

And I to myself am a stranger

My heart is of iron and lead

My world is resounding with miseries abounding

There’s only one thing to be said