[Intro]
Oh I wish the stars would fall down on me
I’d be made, think of it:
How famous they are, struck down by a star
Made of the same thing that they are
Now loosen the plough, but gently, gently
[Bridge 1]
And I will wait until it falls on me
Down on me, down on this prosperous stiff
Of a collarsworth, neither king nor weedle
Day after day, from the heights of life
Estranged am I, separated from self
As from sky
But, to be all I could be
If only for a day, stars
Bunk me in your circus train
[Verse 1]
Welcome at last to this city, whose heart
Is caged by the philosophy that
‘That which hurts and hurts most is true’;
It’s not the first place over which I’vе ruled
In those raw green fields whеre I grew, too
Could I out-shoot and out-math all those whom
I hadn’t trading-card-outdrew, dad’s prized
Uschi at my side; I was the ten-year-old girl
With her cow, whom one did not simply beat
In fact, it’s truer to say, these days I do not
Rule over you, but am the rule under
Keeping the process due from being pulled asunder
By those who hold it in contempt of their instinct’s justice
I’m change’s stubborn mechanic, doused in its oil, occasionally
Misplaced in its case while removing its honeycomb spoil
A lawyer, to put it straight; an activist in a waist-length cape
But less cynical and Byronic than is the modern activist’s taste
And today’s the day
In the newspapers they call the man I’m to defend a sphinx
Albeit one who must be saved by the solving of his secret;
And me, they say, I’ll have to live with that monstrous knowledge
Well then let me be that knowledge’s very college
Watch here how, by defending the indefensible
I become the defender of all
[Bridge 2]
“Why must we come watch a trial
Unfold? We’ve no stock in what’s legal”
“No, but the lawyer, she was off her
Horse just to take this case
When the gavel falls on him
It’ll fall on her as well; and justice
Will be failed by the law
But, it’s a chance she’s apt to take
And if only for a day, we may see
Someone be all they could be, when it counts.”
[Bridge 3]
The world sets itself in place
And then it waits for me
Shows me works of good and great
And then it waits for me
[Verse 2]
"In coming here, in order to defend
I must accuse, all those who would not dare
Act this prisoner’s lawyer; I’m his lawyer neither
I am the lawyer for society, and all humankind
That dignifies enough their title to be shocked
Out of mind here; I accuse you of making the law
Into an art of the heart, that which is not served
But serves; used to convict maniacs as malefactors
I have no doubt of your guilty verdict on this man
You need have no doubt about the one I hand
Upon you, either; in thinking to equal him under the law
Which states we are all of the same stardust born
You have taken the killer of a child and besides, and
Made him look a martyr, and a prisoner for mankind
I can think of no greater crime that could trepan
Your vanity; no stanker epitaph
I will let what’s due have its way, for I had faith
Enough for us all on this day
Yes, and when you grudge affection on my dear
Departed remains, you will simply have at least to say
“She was faithful!”"
[Verse 3]
And I was hurting generously
And I was hurting for hope
And if I was hurting, at least
I was hurting for the right reasons
And on the courthouse steps
I caught sight in the sky of Verseus
That bird that otherwise appears only
To doomed ‘taineers of the mounts
Flying through the city for a holiday
To meet a new class of damned climbers
And later on my branch she met me, with
This same melody as here you hear, as if to say
“Now you have seen; freedom is not free”
Then with a wink and the line “Don’t be afraid of
Being taken seriously”, she made my wonder couplety
