Lyrics My Brother Esau - Grateful Dead, Mickey Hart, Jerry Garcia

My Brother Esau

My brother Esau killed a hunter
Back in 1969
And before the killing was done
His inheritance was mine
But his birthright was a wand to wave
Before a weary band
Esau gave me sleeplessness
And a piece of moral land
My father favored Esau
Who was eager to obey
All the bloody wild commandments
The Old Man shot his way
But all this favor ended
When my brother failed at war
He staggered home
And found me in the door
Esau skates on mirrors anymore
He meets his pale reflection at the door
Yet sometimes at night I dream
He’s still that hairy man
Shadowboxing the Apocalypse
And wandering the land
Shadowboxing the Apocalypse
And wandering the land
Esau holds a blessing
Brother Esau bears a curse
I would say that the blame is mine
But I suspect it’s something worse
The more my brother looks like me
The less I understand
The silent war that bloodied both our hands
Sometimes at night, I think I understand
It’s brother to brother and it’s man to man
And it’s face to face and it’s hand to hand
We shadow dance the silent war within
The shadow dance, it never ends
Never ends, never ends
Shadowboxing the Apocalypse, yet again
Yet again
Shadowboxing the Apocalypse
And wandering the land