Hotel Babel

Checking in to Hotel Babel
Bellhop Jesus, take my baggage
Up to penthouse number nine
And show me where I need to sign

Climbing Jacob’s Ladder slowly
Passing prophet portraits peering
Back at me, but they can’t see
Into these lifeless eyes of mine

Tip the Savior with my soul
And open up to isolation
The curtains drawn, I don’t belong
Ring up a bottle of salvation

To drown my lack of satisfaction
To validate my mourning dove
Perched upon the cold stone of
My wayward spirit’s windowsill

Below, the streets of broken dreams
Carved out like cut glass shards of anguish
Misery in shades obscene
Misguided vines that guard the exits

Duvets are wooly sheets of lamb
To blanket the mistakes I’ve made
Fall face first into Mary’s pillows
Then fall away from everything

Eternal dawn, she wraps around me
Her warm, inviting smile affirms
I’ve made love to a vested virgin
Anointed in the bed we’ve made

She says she has a mikvah dip
Appointment made for noon today
At the hotel salon aptly named
“Bathsheba’s Health and Wellness Spa”

And so I dress and head for breakfast
The dining room is scarcely filled
Chef Moses says the menu’s “plagued”
While Doorman Samson adjusts his toupée

Cut through the kitchen backdoor alley
Where John awaits on the fire escape
Says he knows a “little dive”
That serves the best communion ‘round

The city smells of kerosene
The Lake of Fire’s distinctive sea breeze
I know this place, I know it well
The hell townsfolk call Beggarsville

Streets confettied with love letters shorn into shreds
Nephews abused by long-suffering aunts
And sewer rats

Infested with larva of soul-eating moths
Humanitarians who have finished last
And the past

Ragged stares from dreamers who honestly cared
Once upon long ago
Before failure was known

The sting of sulfur blinds our eyes
We duck inside a crumbling building
Among the skid row bars and brothels
A hole called Café Rock of Ages

The owner’s name is Abraham
A boy named Isaac tends the bar
The wine tastes like the spit of swill
John says it’s here we’ll get our fill

We take our seats against the wall
The paper peeling worn and torn
Above our heads the clock unwound
A drunk named Judas buys a round

He pays with thirty silver coins
A seldom u-ndertaking for a
Man who toils a potter’s field
He hangs his hat and pours his meal

We order tempest tossed in loss
The cupboards bare – we eat the world
Piano Man Paul starts to play
The atmosphere begins to sway

We melt beneath the floorboards
Bidding fond adieu to all our woes
Promenade in fairground joy
In total bliss and happiness

Airing our feelings, grasping for reasoning
What is the meaning?
Am I only dreaming?

Chanting incantations, a lecherous celebration
Cursing segregation
Defeating subjugation

Bells are ringing, angels singing
Patrons smiling
Some are crying

Accept this pleasant, earnest present
Away with fists that don’t belong
Honest trust, how glorious!
The ivory keys tap freedom’s song

Farewell despair without a care
Far from the streets of sweeping sorrow
No room for shame, our lives in vain
A touch of grace, God, here I go

John says the anthem comes alive
In each gleam of a newborn’s eyes
And with Paul’s impassioned, vocal strains
Our broken dreams are euthanized

The soothing sound of freedom’s song
How I love it o’er and o’er
The cresting pulse of freedom’s song
Makes me wish for nothing more

But jubilation never stays
A pimp called Lot struts through the door
Presents his daughters, boasts they’ll fill
Any lust in Beggarsville

We thus retreat the downward spiral
Reminded life’s a mystery
The rich man mired in foolishness
The wise man sunk in poverty

So what entails a man to stay?
To forge a life in Beggarsville?
To take his bleak, vexatious veil
And shroud the light of his potential?

We head on back to Hotel Babel
Criss-cross the streets of broken dreams
Past shops called Enoch’s Bank and Trust
And Taxes Done by Zacchaeus

A star shines bright to guide us home
Quick stop downtown at Casino Levi
Lose gold and frankincense and myrrh
To three wise guys doing Magi tricks

The dust of dusk begins to descend
So majestic, such finesse
To cover every implication
With the prowess of indulgence

John says he’s had a revelation
Says we should pop down to the station
Hop a steel-wheeled riding rail
And take that scenic, westbound trail

He’s got an eye on setting suns
Wants to have a little fun
Wants to flee this sordid game
And taste the chaste of summer rain

Calls upon his guardian angel
A cherub-faced boy now appears
Presents himself as simply Michael
Who draws his sword when trouble nears

And so we journey through the city
When out of nowhere comes a mob
John asks them what they want from us
“Barabbas!” (i.e. none of your business)

They lunge, but Michael doles the lash
So swift he strikes with split precision
The mob disperses in a hurry
The details – still a little blurry

But John’s been wounded and it’s bad
We need to get him help and fast
Michael says that Doctor Luke
Can fix him good as new again

For Pete’s sake then, put down the sword
And help me get John on this board
We’ll carry him to Luke’s E.R.
And hope it doesn’t leave a scar

Rush through the doors where scores and scores
Await afflicted with disease
Leprosy, possession, those seen clinging to a crutch
All in need of a healing touch

Curse the sound of freedom’s song!
Oh woeful words that maim, not heal!
Newborn dance fawn prancing ground
Means nothing to me anymore

We should have stayed at Hotel Babel
Then John would not be in this state
And Mary, oh my undercover lover
How she’d placate my intentions to escape

Doc Luke attempts a risky operation
Never done before nor will again
But in the end it’s either this or lose our friend
And me and Mike can’t let that happen

So begins the Lazarus Procedure
Ever-eager Mike begins to pray
Says it helps to keep the pain at bay
But I don’t see it quite that way

Luke thrusts the spear into John’s side
The blood spews forth in flashflood waves
Nurse Ruth attempts to stitch a fissure wide
The Balm of Gilead is then applied

John’s last words urge us all to keep believing
Rolls back his eyes then wades across the sea
Eternity? Could be. But me? I highly doubt it
The scrub tech, Thomas, heartily agrees

So I set off once again for Hotel Babel
Funny how things seem to end that way
You search for faith only to find
The abscess of a sacrilegious mind.

Montage – The Last Call

I cannot stand my father’s hand
Who wields a violent, tyrant’s glove
Sour bearer weakened and feeble
In the order of law I will no longer tolerate
Be still!
Beckoned and bruised
Full hatred, full of despise
Anarchy to which I worship, subscribe
While lanterns burn brightly in the corridors of my mind

Within an age when all things fair
I went too far!
I left the earth searching, pondering, praying
Aimless in my conquest
Never having been a saintly figure of the church
My martyrdom is inexplicable
I need not explain! I need exoneration!
Reverence for weirdness, vindication for oddity
Ptolemy reasoning and platonic figuring
A beast with severed Bristol ties
The master laughs when servants cry
Under the influence of insanity

And to my mother dressed in armor
Now murdered on the battlefront
I show thee no pity
Affectionless her body lay infested with her swollen anger
Her last words rang, “Scoundrel! Blasphemous borne child! Oh, how I loathe thee!”

Now a lecture for the worms … and worms have no ears
I scorn relatives with menopausal awareness
Shuffling halfheartedly toward the Golden Years of nothingness
My God, what am I doing here?
In a haze surrounded by speculation
Makes me strive for segregation
Triumph in the town of plenty
Redemption for a sparrow’s crown

Take from my bosom apologetic voices
Begging forgiveness for attending this menace
Pretend no more I’m a believer; infected with cursed heathen fever
Catching glimpses of amity from the corner of my eye
A million thoughts race through my head
Is true love real? Or truly stable?
Would true love flee if it were able?
Lovely little parody that here I sit among the ashes
Caressed by the sense of me sitting on a fence
Which way should I fall – to the bad or the good?
Why try? On which side will you die?

My fondness for people resembles a piccolo placed in the back row
Never been known, never was shown
False freelance no pay headwash mind games
Reserves me and my lonesome at no extra cost
My torturer, my devil, my nemesis, friend
A soft, quiet friend with a momentous impact
This is my montage – the last call

What manner lie you wake at night to sense a presence in the room?
A shadow’s breath on top of you emerging forth and spreading sickness
Confess, you wicked silhouette! ‘Twas you who hid within my room!
Watching me slumber with eyes tightly fused
Pray tell, what was I supposed to do?
Love you all as best I could?
I’ve already tried to entwine my benevolence
But to those who have misunderstood
I’m just a lost cause ‘twas meant for dogs whose dice roll just crapped out again

Forget I said a single word
What’s best unsaid is what I think
To you, to all, to worldly stays
‘Cause what I say turns blue skies grey
Pledged to oaths I can’t reveal
I’ll never heal and cannot translate
Those who go to bed with bloated bellies
Scrounging round for one last supper
Retire now!
Wash away covetous ways like disposing of bowel waste in an outhouse reserve

I refer to happiness in meager tones
For we have not yet been properly introduced
And if I told you of everything so vivid to me
A parade of raindrops that fall in the smash suddenness of silent contempt
My expressive salute to a parental cluster of amethyst that seems to shine upon my loose footing
Would you take back what you said to me?
Could you bring back the laughter escaping my lungs?
I’m on the run, you wanna come?

Hallelujah, what’s it to ya?
Seems to me much more than that
If Kipling wrote on shattered speeches
I know where the pieces went
And they’re for rent

Alas, the fall of twilight’s play
As black cloth falls, I’ll dim the lights
Although I love all when the dawn breaks
I am trapped in secret night
The last contender for the fight
It’s all right; I’ll be alright
It serves me right
Goodnight.

Off The Chest

Snuff the candle in your head; I think you’ve had enough to say
You want my damned soul stretched and ploughed
Cursing the plan that you really can’t stand
The thought of us going through life hand in hand

Took the occasion to sort out our trouble
Decided to chance it and made it out double
An affair of despair left our love levee breaking
Slaves in the making, our hearts torn and aching

My mind split wide open; brains spilt on the floor
You vanish from view, my lost angel whore
Release tired efforts and the shadows of trust
Segregate/Separate affection – a must

A farewell celebration, invite all our pain
We’ll howl at the moon in the night’s pouring rain
Below empty streetlights so hollow they shine
As the sorrow frosts over our window of time

In the overwhelmed solace, earth covered in white
Then the snows of our yesteryears melt from our sight
And become what was once such a cryptic disguise
Mask the seasick endeavor, the corrupt enterprise

‘Twas all lies – the charade, the insane games we played
The art beyond bondage and the chains that we made
The curse that we now know we’ll never be free
The loss of commitment that leaves us bereaved

Belief in faith fails me; forsaken my hope
At the end of my rope, but I’m trying to cope
Intrigued by delusion, persecution inquires
What cures this misfortune and lifts mere men higher?

City Of Broken Dreams

Consumed by stuttered drabbbness
In the city of broken dreams
Merge with the utter hapless
Become unravelled at the seams

In stride with worn and pitiful
Fictitious pairs of shoes
Holes swallow my indifference
Tattoo inks me “Born to Lose”

I wander in the humdrum
Contemplating city schemes
It’s a wrongful plague on pilgrims
This damn state of broken dreams

City says that it’s seen plenty
I would say I’m barely seen
As the crow flies four and twenty
I walk the streets of broken dreams

Christ can’t save this wretched Sodom
Christ can’t hear in-sin-seared pleas
Christ can’t win ‘cause in the end
We’d all just kill the man again

The city sun has burned to blackout
I burn candles in my head
This city leaves no room for doubting
That true love is truly dead

Street signs suggest subtle suicide
Alleyways form hostile spaces
Misplaced names and withdrawn faces
End of ropes and no more aces

Apathetic streetlights mock me
Illuminate my story well
Spawned from Angel and his Mentor
Just before the angel fell

City splendor fades so quickly
Once my future, now my past
Dreams that promise dreams can come true
Turn to dreams that never last

Beneath the broken neon moonlight
Scream the silent walking dead
Harken cries of desperation
Harken hopelessness ahead

Stumble down the rain soaked cobble
In the city of broken dreams
Vanish all of my tomorrows
Vanish all the pretty things.