The Empire Strikes First

No one here can show you where it is but I can point to a sign
On the roof of the world without apparent design
The frozen definition of a lunatic ambition to rise
The air is thin, the future dim, dimension hard to find

Up on a mountain encased in solar rays
Beyond electric dreams of inarticulate passion plays
Coming down a mountain, eons have a human ring
The conversation of impassive planets
Intercepted by a human being

Ratioclination is a practicable way to derive
An attitude of altitude and probity by which to abide
Or maybe of the a theophany of flaming creosote in disguise
The air is thin, the future dim, dimension undefined

Up on a mountain encased in solar rays
Beyond electric dreams of inarticulate passion plays
Coming down a mountain, eons have a human ring
The conversation of impassive planets
Intercepted by a human being

Here glaring cold in the crystalline geometry of night,
Obscuring form and tracing faceless fears
Of a suprahuman immensity in a patch of sand
Or a raptors guileless shivering intensity,
I'm only a visitor,
And atom of atoms on a jutting red splattered synagogue of granite
As it crouches literally in space,
A frozen amoral giant gazing heavenward forever

Let's go where the raptor goes to the mountain in a cosmic glow
We'll have a genuine terrestrial show on a mountain - on a mountain
Let's scan the horizon clean for any trace of human schemes
And try to touch upon immortal themes on a mountain - on a mountain

there's a prophet on a mountain and he's making up dinner
with long division and writing crop
anybody can feel like a winner
when it's served up piping hot

but the people aren't looking for a handout
they're America's working corps
can this be what they voted for?

let them eat war [x2]
that's how to ration the poor
let them eat war [x2]

there's an urgent need to feed
declining pride

from the force to the union shops
the war economy is making new jobs
but the people who benefit most
are breaking bread with their benevolent hosts

who never stole from the rich to give to the poor
all they ever gave to them was a war
and a foreign enemy to deplore

let them eat war [x2]
that's how to ration the poor
let them eat war [x2]

there's an urgent need to feed
declining pride

we've got to kill 'em and eat 'em
before they reach for their checks
squeeze some blue collars
let them bleed from their necks
seize a few dollars from the people who sweat
cause it's freedom or death and they won't question it
at a job site the boss is god like
conditioned workhorses park at a stoplight
seasoned vets with their feet in nets
a stones throw away from a rock fight
but not tonight, feed

somewhere high in the desert near a curtain of a blue
St. Anne's skirts are billowing
but down here in the city of the lime lights
the fans of santa ana are withering
and you can

The quickening is an ephemeral thing
That only happens in the dark
Like catching lightning in a jar
And the pain that it brings
Is just the promise of spring
It

Right now
Well it's finally time to face my fears
Gunna get the hell out of here
And create a fresher atmosphere
But the consequences clear

There's a furnace set on high
And a yearning undefined
But it's time to turn the tide
It's social suicide

Like you
Perserverence is a useless tool
Just a patron on a ship of fools
Feigning interest in the cast and crew
Why you've broken every single rule

There's a furnace set on high
And a yearning undefined
But it's time to turn the tide
It's social suicide

Shadows entertain the unwashed masses
Scholars explain their numb reactions
I don't even know if I can ever find truth
but I'm sure it won't come from following you

There's a furnace set on high
And a yearning undefined
But it's time to turn the tide
It's social suicide

Not long ago, and yet the image is so vague
I hesitate to label it a memory
There was a show of local color and I felt astray
Cause I had nothing to offer but insufficiency

And you know that it