| (And I can’t look up and I can’t look down
|
| When the whole wide world reveals its death
|
| And I can’t take a breath 'cause I haven’t escaped
|
| And I haven’t escaped because I can’t take a breath)
|
| Oh zookeeper, we’re gonna help each other through
|
| Zookeeper, I don’t trust anyone but you
|
| Leave the enclosure, lower our gaze
|
| Brace for the crush, here it comes, brace for the craze
|
| (And I can’t buy into the world that’s sold
|
| But I can’t afford to buy a ticket out
|
| And I can’t reply to anything I’m told
|
| But they say they’re just telling me to open my mouth
|
| And I can’t shake the feeling there was something else
|
| There was something I believed in that got me here
|
| But I’m afraid to go back and find what it was
|
| Because the only belief that I held was fear)
|
| Oh zookeeper, all my life through
|
| Zookeeper, it’s been only me and you
|
| We govern the jungle, we scuttle the ark
|
| There go the cameras, here comes the dark
|
| Here comes the dark
|
| (And will you leave me behind because I cry too much?
|
| Well if you do then you know I’ll cry and cry
|
| Or are you leaving 'cause you’ve never known another touch
|
| And you wonder what it’s like on the other side?
|
| And the further you go, the less I care
|
| And the less I care, then the further you go
|
| And the smarter I get, the more I want to learn
|
| But the more that I learn, the less I realize I know)
|
| 'Cause there’s
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| There’s nobody left but you and me
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| But you and me
|
| (And everything that’s new decays to something old
|
| And «new» is just a word, just an adjective
|
| And every part of speech that I conceive afresh
|
| Will do nothing to change the fact that it’s live
|
| Or die, the two, the irreducible pair
|
| And it’s yes or no, and it’s you or me
|
| And it’s stay or go, and it’s earth or air
|
| And it’s fast or slow, or it’s in between)
|
| Oh zookeeper, d’ya think we’ll pull through?
|
| Zookeeper, and do we really have to?
|
| We could’ve stayed, we could still pretend
|
| But here come the birds of prey
|
| Here comes the end
|
| Here comes the end
|
| (And it’s up or down, and it’s zero or one
|
| And we’re made of ghosts, who’re all keeping score
|
| It’s all in the past or it’s still to come
|
| And I feel like I’m the only one who cries for more
|
| 'Cause time is just one way, and a circle’s closed
|
| And everyone I know retains a name
|
| Still I can’t look up and I can’t look down
|
| And for all the change, it’s all the same)
|
| And there’s
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| There’s nobody left but you and me
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| But you and me
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| There’s nobody left
|
| There’s nobody left but you and me
|
| (And if I stride into the heart of a factory
|
| Walking tall and fast so that no one asks
|
| Could I lay my head down on the iron press?
|
| And could I push the green button and end it fast?
|
| There’s a black hole spiral with no inside
|
| Where nothing escapes and death is just a flash
|
| But to the bear in the cage is there a slowing of time?
|
| Does the split second noise just last and last?)
|
| There’s nobody left in the world
|
| In the place of predator and prey and boys and girls
|
| There’s nobody left in the wild
|
| Ain’t got no use for words like «animal» or «child»
|
| (And does the lion grow love like wings of milk?
|
| And does the meat of my bones rise up and sing?
|
| And does my soul take flight into calcium dust?
|
| And does the map of the world blow apart in the wind?
|
| And does the boat on the water dissolve in tears?
|
| And does clearing in the forest mate intention with math?
|
| Is the emergence of a tumor just a god who tries
|
| To break into our world by the shortest path?)
|
| Zookeeper
|
| Come on, open your heart up, open my cage
|
| Here comes the future
|
| Here comes the rage
|
| (And does the flailing of my body on the foundry floor
|
| Give a scent of honey and a scent of luck
|
| So that the workers and overseer can’t ignore
|
| The little moonglow breeze by which they’re struck?
|
| And will we meet in the morning on the day we die?
|
| Will we chase our shadows like we never grew up?
|
| And will we laugh to the comedy of nuclei?
|
| And will we drink ourselves deep into the holy cup?
|
| And your very first word was your very last choice
|
| If your daughter doesn’t get you then the government will
|
| I’m just hanging onto life for the sake of my cats
|
| And if I were their size, they would probably kill me too) |