Center of the circle where two serpents intersect, you spun me tales of gold and murder in a spaceman dialect, and if my right side is the sacred sun, my left side is the moon, and if the two kiss in Sushumna, I saw you. I saw you. Kingdom for a horse; traded my kingdom for a Lung-Ta steed. From the air to the fire, she's all that flows, from the fire to the air to the deep blue sea. Just Breathe. The sun and moon, the sun and moon, between the two, I saw you. I got the key, the treasury, blooms from a tree. Plucked this peach with my eyes of blue, from the hills to the valleys where a Kathmandu, from the hills to the valleys where a cat can do. (from the hills to the valleys, from the hills to the valleys) lake of snakes beside the city, drain the lake and make it pretty, kill a demon, what a pity. (all day long they ran about naked or swam, they were wanton, witch-like girls, liking eccentric and forbidden ways) (when Muhammad proclaimed that the sword is the key of heaven and of hell, he only echoed a Japanese sentiment) (Was it the spirit of the master, or of his tutelary God that cast a formidable spell over our sword?) (You don't kill enough. Don't you eat pepper and eggplants?) Nightcall, sword and sorcery, Nightcall, on the hangin' tree, hangin' upside-down from my lotus feet, tradin' eye for an eye, now my eyes count three, Nightcall, pierced by spear to bleed, Nightcall, on the hangin' tree.

Whatever gate leads to the palace, only time may tell. Inside the meanings of words, the spirits echo. Under cover of tears, the old ones speak. I squeeze invisible tongues beyond the shadows. Can you dig it? The bitch never sleeps. Wings, Qajar! to fight this evil eye, beneath these luscious, lurid, black/blue, eastern skies. Eyes like shrines, brave camel rider! Press on like sands of a rainbow maze! Vidyadharas spin like planets round the sun, I hear you. An astral universe in every magician I peer through. Eyes like shrines, brave camel rider! Press on like sands of a rainbow maze! If I never told what you need to know, you can write me letters and address them to the next bardo. (Of course, we always release our tigers back into the wild.)

Once, a certain stone egg was acted upon by the elemental forces of nature at the top of a mountain, and from this egg sprang a stone monkey. The great sage knows all the magicks. Yes, I am here, and everywhere. As he donned the armor of the sea-king, he found it fit quite nicely. Please don't tell me I'm not see through, Please don't tell me I'm not simple, Please don't tell me I'm not see through, Please don't tell me I'm not see through, Please don't tell me, Please don't tell me, Please don't tell me I'm not see through, Please don't tell me, Please don't tell me, Please don't tell me I'm not see through, Please don't tell me I'm not see through, Please don't tell me I'm not see through, I should be the king of heaven. (In the words of the Buddha, you must conquer yourself, then win a thousand battles. Only then will you have that which cannot be taken away from you.)

As it appears, we've divided the years for the Winter Count, for the Winter Count. Cut through your fears like a razorback. Open and worn like a paperback. If a spider could write, if a spider could write, she'd weave a story in her web. (Nowadays there are still girls and boys whose curiousity leads them to strange places.) (I'm the el crash your airplane friday, and I represent el cheapo wine, get nice and high and fly around the room friday) (Man, sidewalks is for sissies.) (Oh hi, who are you? I said hello. Is that Marijuana?) (Straight from the bottle. This is the nicest wine I've ever tasted, this the bestest wine in the whole wide world.) (That is Marijuana, isn't it?) (This good thing I'm tellin' you about tonight, is better, uh, is sweeter than any tongue could tell.) (Do you know what those pills are?) (Uh-uh, but they're that white rabbit's who just went down that--) (Well, do you know who he is?) (Uh-uh, I guess not.) I should think the chances of it being the actual phantasm of some dead dog, or an elemental, are about equal. It is probably sometimes the one, and sometimes the other, and its origin is, very possibly, like that of the banshee. (that is Marijuana, isn't it?) That is Marijuana, isn't it. (Listen, I can tell you more about time in seconds, than you can hear in years.) (I was shoutin' of victory and speakin' in tongues all that time.) Mother Earth, you know me, like I'm Shoshone. Mother Earth, you told me what it's all about. Mother Earth, you showed me, with ceremony, now put yourselves together for the Winter Count. The Winter Count, The Winter Count, The Winter Count, We've been painting stories on our skin. In boots of demons, I've been creepin' on the meanings of the seasons, with a black sun tooth, with a black sun tooth. Like blood and semen, I've been speakin' in between them, while they're dreamin', with a black sun tooth, with a black sun tooth. Ya'll let me out. The Winter Count, perceives throughout, with a black sun tooth, with a black sun tooth. With a black sun tooth, with a black sun tooth. With a black sun tooth, with a black star, star tooth. I said hello. (Each one of these pictures, stands for one year.) (We did not use numbers like today. Instead, each year had a symbol.) (And the little boy had a wonderful time whenever he went to the forest, but there were other people in the forest, too, and some were not very careful.) (Time? Time? It's six o'clock, tea time, time to take a pill.) (Some people gots that's mighty good, and they think they're so much, that they think it's a disgrace to touch a serpent, I don't want to be highly esteemed among men.) (I like the way the forest sounds, the way the leaves rustle in the wind, and fall to the ground, and crunch under your feet, the way the birds sing and the chipmunks chatter, and the way a squirrel scrambles up a tree, that's why I'm askin' you to please be careful with fire, because when we lose a forest, we lose a lot more than meets the eye, and I oughta know...) (He was the one from the tribe, who would make drawings of something important that happened each year. There was no one way to do a winter count. Different people did them in different ways. Sometimes the symbols would circle around the hide and go inward. Others would start in the middle and go outward. Or they may go across) (The Winter Count could only be understood by the one who put it down.)

(I am lovely, Oh mortals, like a dream of stone.) I think a Goddess wore you, my favorite style of clothes. You. How was I to know? Your tactics mark you as an ill-fitting dress, you bitch. Is it really so hard to love? I'm waiting for a tailor. Maybe then I can fly. Unzip your eye. One day, you'll think of me, at the crossroads, and if you want me, I'll still be there, but you advertise, you tried to sell me, you tried to sell me. Unzip your eyes, the heart doesn't lie. Lately, although it's crazy, I'm thinking maybe I'll fly. I'm waiting for a tailor. Unzip your eye.

I was an island, of animals and cannibals, of cantables and rantables, of canticles and mandibles. I was an island, chewing and brewing, unlaudable, unlandable, unlaudable, unlandable. I was an island, full of things that that fight each other, things that bite another, and things that try to shudder, and things that light the shutter, and things that milk the udder, and things that chew and stutter, but mostly, I was an island, and I didn't touch the warmth of human land. I was an island. humanity like the island of lost souls, Dr. Moreau asks, what is the law? The sayer of law replies, not to go on all fours, that is the law, are we not men? The beasts cry in unison, are we not men? are we not men? not to go on all fours, that is the law, are we not men? are we not men? I was an island. of animals and cannibals, of cantables and rantables, of canticles and mandibles. I was an island, chewing and brewing, unlaudable, unlandable, unlaudable, unlandable. Yes, I was an island. full of things that that fight each other, things that bite another, and things that try to shudder, and things that light the shutter, and things that milk the udder, and things that chew and stutter, and mostly, I was an island, and I didn't touch the warmth of human land. I was an island. Won't you please take my hand. Not to go on all fours, that is the law. Are we not men? Not to go on all fours, that is the law. Are we not men? The beasts cry in unison, are we not men? are we not men? not to go on all fours, that is the law, are we not men? are we not men? The beasts cry in unison, are we not men? are we not men?

A holiday, a holiday, and the first one of the year, Lord Arlen's wife went into the church, the gospel she would hear. And when the ritual was done, she cast her eyes about, and there she spied little Matty Groves just a'walkin' in the crowd. Come home with me, little Matty Groves, Come home with me tonight. Come home with me, little Matty Groves, and sleep with me 'til light. I can't come home, I won't come home, to sleep with you tonight, by the rings on your fingers, I can tell, you are Lord Arlen's wife. But, if I am Lord Arlen's wife, Lord Arlen's not at home, for he is away in the wood to hunt, where the hart and hare do roam. And a servant who was standing by, on hearing what was said, he swore Lord Arlen, he would know, before the sun would set. And in his haste to carry the news, he bent his breast and ran, and when he came to the broad mill stream, he took off his shoes and swam. In sheets, and sweat, and perfumed flesh, Matty Groves, he fell asleep. When he awoke, Lord Arlen, was standin' at his feet, saying, how do you like my feather bed? how do you like my sheets? how do you like my ladylove who lies in your arms asleep? Well, I do prefer your feather bed, and I do prefer your sheets, but I most prefer your ladylove, who lies in my arms asleep. Well, get up, get up, Lord Arlen cried, get up as quick as you can, I'll never have it said in fair England, I slew a naked man. I can't get up, sir, I won't get up, I can't get up for my life, Sir, you have two long beaten swords, and I've not a pocket knife. Well, it's true I have two beaten swords, and they cost me deep in the purse, but you shall have the better of them, and I shall have the worse. And you shall strike the very first blow, and best strike it like a man, for I will strike the very next blow, and I'll kill you if I can. So Matty struck the very first blow, and he hurt Lord Arlen sore. Lord Arlen struck the very next blow, and Matty struck no more. And then Lord Arlen took his wife, and he sat her on his knee, sayin' who do you like the better of us, now is it Matty Groves or me? And then up spoke his own dear wife, never heard to speak to free, sayin' I'd rather a kiss from dead Matty's lips, than you or your finery. And then Lord Arlen pushed his wife, and loudly he did bawl. He struck his sword right through her heart, and he pinned her to the wall. A grave, a grave, Lord Arlen cried, to put these lovers in, but bury my Lady at the top, for she was of noble kin.

(instrumental)

Like a most inexperienced initiate of the Tachikawa-Ryu, I smeared the symbol with my own blood and seed, and trembled duly at the retinue of Goddesses in walking multitude, the universe I'd conceived. Kali, kaulikas, when the bombs drop, we're gonna dance, dance, dance. You wanna walk on me? Here's your chance, chance, chance. Arms up, pistols out, Dance, Dance, Dance. Who digs a well while the house burns down? Kali, kaulikas, we dance in fire, like Shiva. Who digs a well while the house burns down? Like an occult detective with a space-time grimoire on a crime noir case, I emerge from the pillar on the search for a killer to converge in the mirror and show you a lion's face. If you fuck with me, I will lay you on my knee. If you think you have to do what people tell you to, If you think you have to do what people say, well, honey, while I've got you on the telephone, remember I was just a psychic phone call away from damnation, travelin' station to station. Who? Digs? Who digs a well while the house burns down? While the house burns down? Dance. Dance. Dance. Bone river, bone river, what ya'll swimmin' in, is Ender-City Vice.

I can taste my music... I trip the light fantastic dark in Noah's Ark. Cassiopeia with too much eye shadow, we dance. Heliopolis romance on top of this aneurysm of torn shirts and pants. The old Nile Valley palm reed twist and shout, the old in-out. Ivory Cheshire cat comb finger teeth painted with sand-pipers. free like a sesame seed bursting from a pod, sex, oh god, her neck in that kimono. I'd like to build a nest in her heart like a bird, lip below the ear to breathe just breathe. Spiders weave a web of legs to conceive. Man prays to woman, woman prays to man. Tefnut is a lioness. I bite her throat, lick lips, taste blood. There must be some lion in us. She tastes like African drums, swords of war, she plays the ney flute, this girl. I can taste my music on her lips.

(He's smashin') Are you okay? You've been shot in the head, and I'm holding your brains, the old woman said. So, I drink in the shadows of an evening sky, see nothing at all. The stars look so special, and the snow looks so old. The frail form is drifting beyond the yoga zone. I turn to question the mountain, why pigs should fly. It's nothing at all. I praise to you. Nothing ever goes. I prayed to you. Nothing ever goes. You should praise me, too. I'm never gonna go. I'm never goin' home. I praise to you. Nothing ever goes. You should praise me, too. I'm never goin' home. I'll take the throne.