Master Song
I believe that you heard your master singWhen I was sick in bed.I suppose that he told you everythingThat I keep locked away in my head.Your master took you travelling,Well at least that's what you said.And now do you come back to bringYour prisoner wine and bread?
You met him at some temple, whereThey take your clothes at the door.He was just a numberless man in a chairWho'd just come back from the war.And you wrap up his tired face in your hairAnd he hands you the apple core.Then he touches your lips now so suddenly bareOf all the kisses we put on some time before.And he gave you a German Shepherd to walkWith a collar of leather and nails,And he never once made you explain or talkAbout all of the little details,Such as who had a word and who had a rock,And who had you through the mails.Now your love is a secret all over the block,And it never stops not even when your master fails.
And he took you up in his aeroplane,Which he flew without any hands,And you cruised above the ribbons of rainThat drove the crowd from the stands.Then he killed the lights in a lonely LaneAnd, an ape with angel glands,Erased the final wisps of painWith the music of rubber bands.
And now I hear your master sing,You kneel for him to come.His body is a golden stringThat your body is hanging from.His body is a golden string,My body has grown numb.Oh now you hear your master sing,Your shirt is all undone.And will you kneel beside this bedThat we polished so long ago,Before your master chose insteadTo make my bed of snow?Your eyes are wild and your knuckles are redAnd you're speaking far too low.No I can't make out what your master saidBefore he made you go.
Then I think you're playing far too roughFor a lady who's been to the moon;I've lain by this window long enoughTo get used to an empty room.And your love is some dust in an old man's coughWho is tapping his foot to a tune,And your thighs are a ruin, you want too much,Let's say you came back some time too soon.I loved your master perfectlyI taught him all that he knew.He was starving in some deep mysteryLike a man who is sure what is true.And I sent you to him with my guaranteeI could teach him something new,And I taught him how you would long for meNo matter what he said no matter what you'd do.
I believe that you heard your master singWhile I was sick in bed,I'm sure that he told you everythingI must keep locked away in my head.Your master took you travelling,Well at least that's what you said,And now do you come back to bringYour prisoner wine and bread?