Another Age

There’s a man walking round the island with a snake cane
He picked it up in Thailand from a hurricane
And you know he’s not gonna go there
He’s been one time too long
Now all the gods are gone (Though the game is gone)
The younger boys are drowning in a shallow sea
The night belongs to snipers in palm trees
And their sabres flashed like lightning
In the charge of the last brigade
They must have been afraid
Soldiers have their sorrow
The wretched have their rage
Pray for the aged it’s the dawn of another age
Of another age
Of another age
Of another age
The blood running down the blackboard on a blank (?) screen (in a thin stream?)
The convicts shake their cages of a bad dream
And they’ll coach you in the classroom that it cannot happen here
But it has happened here
I remember nothing that I memorized (The cockroach cops are crawling on a
battle ground)
I got my education from a black eye (The shields are in the shadows,
it’s a college town)
And they’ll teach you law and order
If you dare to raise your hand
Spare the glove and spoil the man
Soldiers have their sorrow
The wretched have their rage
Pray for the aged
It’s the dawn of another age
Of another age
Of another age
Thomas Paine and Jesse James are old friends