No Reptiles

Slip from the trees

To the dirt to the menace

To the wild to the car

Under snow, cut to ribbons

Like a coral to your shin

Like a manacle to swing

Fresh from the breast

Now a river running fat

To the manor born a rat

To the manor born a flea

To a flood to a drain

Now a rubber, now a chain

I was in the war

You were in the war

Plump from the sugar-water pump

With the city at your back

To the cannon with a match

From a milk into a mass grave

Never mind that, I can take that

Bones in a bowl

Like a toad-in-the-hole

Take the shape of the mould

Like a mummy on a pole

And a merry little head

Bob around when you're dead

I was on my knees

You were on your knees

And no reptiles!

Just soft boiled eggs in shirts and ties

Waiting for the flashing green man

Quivering and wobbling just like all the eggs you know

I’m going to kill a stranger

So don’t you be a stranger

Oh baby, it’s alright

It’s alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair

Old enough to run

Old enough to fire a gun

Just give me this one night

Just one night to feel

Like I might be on the right path

The path that takes me home

Wise enough to know myself

Old enough to fire a gun

Just give me this one night

Just one night to feel