Before This City Wakes

At the cinema of flames

I work the swing shift

When I get off

I am inclined to drift

Through the downtown

So many victims of pleasure

That I've stopped counting

Soldiers of joy

Getting' hammered at the fountain

near the cathouse

They're playing techno calypso

At the apocalyptic disco

But I stand outside

Just to stare down the slithering crowd

Divide and conquer

is the new mathematics

But it's as old as the hills

On which all the mansions die proud

I'm gonna waste

Everything that you hate

Before this city wakes

I keep spittin' out

The first things that come to my head

A blistering list

Of the who, what, the when

And the wherefore

These times are stammers

And jitters, and echoes

A silence disfigured

A stupor born ranting

Like a stuck pig

Got my favorite booth

At an all night diner

And you've probably seen me

On a jagged, all-nighter

Mumblin' senseless

Assassination is the privilege of princes

But I'm getting sick of how everyone winces

when I'm close

Tomorrow let's meet

and I'll show you around

And I'll show you all the shit

that I couldn't tear down

With my bare hands