Stay

Nothing lasts forever I've seen people come and go

Places I remember don't look like they did before

Every time I turn around, something disappears

and now I wonder how long you'll be here

Won't you stay - I'd add a few lore hours to the day

and I'd keep the sun from setting if you stay

I need to find out why I feel this way

I'm having trouble letting go

Endless bloody sacrifices to the gods of oil

Toadies of the billionaires these politicians loyal

Profit dictates policy, they've got us by the balls

and "in the halls of justice the only justice is in the halls"*

Speeches filled with pretty words that speak of lofty goals

but the captain of the tanker is still drunk at the controls

It feels like any time the other shoe could hit the ground

but it doesn't feel so bad when you're around

Won't you stay - when you're with me I'm like a child at play

I feel so elated. Won't you stay

at least until the darkness burns away

You're the medicine I've waited for

The agency inspects the vine to find out why it broke

while Tarzan and his council share a latte and a smoke

The ahuasca visionary leaps into the sun

and pointing to the river says "your journey's just begun" 

A regiment of elephants stands waist deep in the mire

while sparks from the volcano start a hundred thousand fires

The General says "don't worry we just need a little rain"

There's not a cloud in sight but all the same

Won't you stay - there's so much to be learned along the way

teach me another lesson, it's okay

I probably won't remember anyway

The more I learn the less I know

A carnival of tourists is returning to the bus

with tales of the calamity and pictures of the dust

Infidels and jezebels lie huddled in the wake

The Mullah shakes his head and says "it's all a big mistake"

The wall street magician pulls another bailout from his hat

while the Queen of Sheba paints a number on her sacred cat

With hieroglyphic afterthoughts she empties out the tomb

and trades the Pharaoh's sceptre for a broom

Won't you stay - your smile makes the shadows go away

Your eyes are like the ocean, green and gray

I'm stranded like a hopeless castaway

Your heart is like an open door

The European diplomat sells pieces of the past

to the lonely Russian sailor with his left arm in a cast

while slight-of-hand agendas in their Uncle Sam disguise

paint patriotic cataracts on everybody's eyes

The water level's dropping, they investigate the leaks

but the valve is still wide open and of this nobody speaks

The second in command is filling up his private lake

and the man in charge is only half awake

Won't you stay - somehow I've just got to find a way

to keep you from leaving, come what may

this crazy world has gone so far astray

but I still believe in you

The techno wizards offer up their products to the street

By the time we learn to use them they're already obsolete

Electronic opiates we're walking in a dream

Eyes and fingers never disconnected from a screen

The lone voice in the wilderness is drowned out by the saws

while the worst of all the criminals are high above the laws

Half the world is starving with the Reaper at the gate

and the rest are trying hard to lose some weight

Won't you stay - I'll add a few more hours to the day

I'll keep the sun from setting if you stay

I need to find out why I feel this way

I'm having trouble letting go so

Stay - make everybody else just go away

I'll just keep on wishing that you stay

There's so much more that I still need to say

and you're the only one that listens to me

* Lenny Bruce