What We Saw at the Freak Show

And now the part of the show
When we unveil the prestige
So sit upright and lean forward
To the precipice of your seat
To the point we drive you insane
To see what we can see
Ladies and gentleman step right up
It's the man who loves himself so
Surrounded by mirrors
He saw only himself reflected
In every pair of eyes he met
And asked constantly of himself
"Am I doing more unto others
So that they will do more unto me?"
And without a word of malice
Or the bitter taste of venom on his lips
He killed so sweetly when he smiled
So, lean forward further now
And prepare for the softest murder
By the man who had to live his entire life
Trapped inside his own body
Never learning that age old secret
Of finding the zipper at the base of his neck
Peeling away this boring flesh
And becoming the bolt of fire the rest of us are
He is the freak who cannot ever see
That the world is bigger than his backyard
And that others have feelings too
Step right up and see the world's only victim
Who has single handedly shouldered every sorrow
Every wrong committed has been towards him
Clap now as he walks by
Somehow bearing it all with such grace
He holds his head as high as he can reach
And sometimes stands on his tiptoes if he must
Throw your dollars and your peanuts
And let him know that you can see him
Don't worry at all, because he can't ever see you
Or can he, you must wonder as he meets your gaze
Perhaps he's found his zipper
And will finally join in our ascension
What a curious thing it must be, you think
To live only upon the flat of earth
How curious to see a man such as this
Who has never drank daylight with the stars
But do not fear, we have taken precautions
And he won't find his zipper if we can help it
And after all
This is all only a show for your entertainment
A funny story about the day you were there
It's not as if this is about a person
Whose skin you fear too much to crawl into
Whose eyes you fear too much to claw out
Hold up to the light
And see what color the sun is to him
Step right up, ladies and gentleman
We only ask you not to feed the freak
Any word of kindness or understanding
Will only encourage him
But then, maybe you ought to feed him daily
Help hide his zipper deeper still
After all as they say in our line of business
The show always must go on
And we are merely here for your entertainment

What We Know

He says he's still the same person
The same person we've always known
But that's bullcrap and we know it
We don't know him anymore

He says that its just a part of him
A part we haven't got to meet
But we know all the parts to him
And this part is foreign and incomplete

And he says that its not a big deal
That what matters is what's within
But we know that if he hid this part
Then there's no knowing what else he's hid

Then he says it's true that there are other parts
And he says there are parts he might not know too
But we know that he must by lying again
And we know what we must say and do

But he says first that he's so sorry
That he knows he should have trusted us more
And we know that he's not sincere at all
And we know we'll still believe the words on his door

And he says he wants to be honest now
And he says he still loves us all like he's dying
And we say we understand and of course we do
And we know that for now, we are lying

And he knows our understanding is not true
And we know that he understands why
And he knows that if he gives it some time
That we will come to know a truth from that lie

And he knows that we are still here standing
And he knows that we are still at war with our minds
And we know that he says he will wait for us to come around
And we know that when he says that it means the opposite kind

He thinks he knows oh so many things
But we know that we know just a bit more
And while he goes on not saying all he knows
We know deep down he truly just wants us to ignore

What You Don't Seem To Understand

It means touching
Everyone
Not just the clean
The neat
The socially acceptable
The ones you would approve of
It means loving
Loving everyone
Learning to walk again
Over and over again
Mile by mile
In their shoes
Until their eyes are your eyes
And you cry for the same reasons they do
It means believing
That whatever measure you meet
It will be measured back to you
So just stop it
Stop measuring them
And me
By your preconceived idea of perfection
And your faulty ideals that have killed innocents
It means making
Making your measure the measure of love
It means making your measure
The measure of forgiveness
Of kindness
Of acceptance
It means when you're commanded to go a mile
You go another
Of your own volition
These are the words of the Teacher
And you say you love Him so
It's time to put your money where your mouth is
Show me by your works
Love the way He loved
Because isn't it funny
And funniest that it's true
That he ate with the greatest "sinners"
But the only sins he called
Were yours
My beloved little Pharisee
So set in your ideas
I will not always be with you
Rejoice while the bridegroom is here
Or else too soon
You'll taste the bitter salt of mourning
When he's gone and its too late
Even you have a little Nicodemus in you
If you'd just try to understand