The Crime of the Ancient Mariner

"Oh, hell. What does this guy want?"

I am the Ancient Mariner
Of life beyond the sea;
Who stops the unemployed
To hear my homeless plea.

Painted faces, pasted smiles
Adorned by mighty will;
But helpless is the pull
When I dare to speak the ill.

- The Mariner speaks of a new land found, none like all in history.

A breaking of king's yoke
My country 'tis of thee;
We rejoiced the birth of this
Gleaming nation of the free.

Ten thousand years in finding,
Sailing through the freedom door;
The world she fell behind
As our freedoms gave us more.
The beacon's hope shining
As they flocked unto our shore.

For every man be king,
The owner of a castle!
No life more worthy be
By virtue of mere tassel.

- When the world went to war, the New Land brought the forces of Light.

But though we blazed the trail,
We Mariners of Light;
Jackboots stormed tyranny,
From east a godless fight.

Siren call of darkness sways
From what you wish to be,
Had we not the guiding light,
'Tis lost path to victory;
Yet we soared into the sky,
Sweet Bird of Liberty!

Dear listener beats his chest
Claims the mastery I tell;
But speak he his heritage
Upon finishing my spell?

- But the New Land held a dark side, threatening its light.

Driving winds of destiny
Blew both ill and good;
T'was butchering of "foreigners"
Squatting in "our" woods.

A-taking, taking, taking
We orgied as our gods;
Feasting on our soils
Like mindless arthropods.

Possessed, the maddening mind
Forsaking all tomorrows;
In heated rush to grab today
Before the coming sorrows.

Greed was here, greed was there,
Greed was all around;
It starved and stabbed, and slew the soul,
Unleashing Hell's own hound!

- The light fades when jailing the soul.

Hope flew in thoughts of joy
Of a remembered love:
Sweet Bird of Liberty,
Our one and precious dove!

"Free us from our jail of greed,
"As done in times before!"
But I called a worth not my own:
"Yet I'm a Holy Whore!"

The Mariner fears the path of ultimate liberty.

With serendipity shot
Fearful blind into the haze;
"God save us from liberty
"And the plague of changing ways!"
With light departed thusly
I was hated lo many days...

Moving with inertia's past
But no sweet bird to follow;
An emptying of our words
Lightless lives echo hollow.

Blindly bitter hand grapples
With loathing of the dark;
But minds of men be churning,
Foul deeds rising to the hark.

- Fidelity to the Light was not as widespread as believed.

Fiend thanks the loss of light
And plunders none will see;
'Tis no longer precious 'free',
"Give precious gold to me!"

The bitchest who gold piled
Slapped me on the back;
"The light must have blinded us,
"We see the wisdom of your act!"

Dear listener beats his chest
Denies unasked, sins I tell;
But speak he his heritage
Upon finishing my spell?

- The dark is declared a "necessary evil", and consumes the land.

Then freedom flounced upon the waves
Justice wheels rustly stop;
Crime the new profession,
Even grifting priest and cop!

But time removes all veils,
Forever nought unknown;
Comes when every cherry's picked
And our hungry mouths made known.

Tending golden mountains
Left forests seared with heat;
Gold flowing in our fountains
But not a bite to eat!

"How can dying babies wail
"When we surely be divine!"
When blaming eyes went seeking
They saw greed in only mine.

Ill favoured Bird of Liberty
Wrapped 'round my neck to choke;
A fitting fate for me, who thinks
"Life is but a joke."

- The Mariner is made to pay for their sins, but it doesn't stop the slide.

T'was a time of castle voids,
Kings sleeping in TARP tent;
A siphoning from the many
To a lucky one percent.


Fat and burly overlords -
Many lives costs his suit;
Clamp the ones once free
To slave in oily soot.

With leaving of the light,
Dark makes safe heartless ice;
To find a way to living
To each his own device;
Fates seized to hapless doom
By rolling sightless dice.

Overlords' scheming serpent
Slithers as favored pet;
Words steal stars from the night,
Not a single lie is vet.

Dear listener beats his chest,
Claims his trueness makes it swell;
But speak he his heritage
Upon finishing my spell?

- The Mariner is the living dead, prays mightily for a bullet through his head. But if he's alive there must still be life yet to be.

In mocking torment my eyelids shut
Willing a world unwounded ere open;
Crumpled low as hell's damned orphan
This woeful wizard sinks in solo mopin';
No more carefree laughter, silence rules the day,
For deeds done be undone I was hopeless hopin'.

In my mind's eye, skies light anew,
In my dreamer's heart, harmony unspoken;
The flower's tears fill desert cracks,
Sweet Bird of Liberty, soars with wings unbroken!

But are these not but dreams of fancy?
Of the free bird, I am slayer;
Tease me not this reachless romance
Heaven's not the realist's prayer.

Yet what lays beyond Heaven's gate?
But masturbating hate;
Must I stay one my enemies date?
The living heart shares true love's fate.

- The Mariner weds his dreams of life, love is his only friend.

I dreamed alone but dream I did,
'Tis an opposite world it seems!
And yes I see it drowns us all
In the wreck of despairing schemes;
But mine's no choosing choice,
A slayer's chance rests in his dreams.

In this fallen hour, with heavy neck bent,
Heavenly Voices truly spoke to me:
"Matters not if saintly soul or if Judas meant,
"One thing I can tell you is you've got to be free."


Wondrous and magical, the free bird taking flight!
Releasing my breath from man's lawless yoke;
Shiny wings disappear as specks into the sun,
Betrothed stand I to words the Voices spoke.

- As if having seen another planet, the Mariner must speak of the beauty he now knows.

Forever bound am I by the telling of this tale,
Rebirthed soul, impossibly slayed;
Witnessing to ears deaf of stone
And eyes of obsidian jade;
Raging rage from unlocked cells
(For no Nature's law keeps them stayed!)
The finality asking of ev'ry life:
Where's the love that ye has made?

Incarnate bodies born of earth,
Who's not spared to bleed?
Eternal soul's reality:
From bodies doubtless freed;
Will refusing eyes upon the sun
Stop sky's galloping steed?
Salvation's blessing remains the same:
Love is all we need.

"He prayeth best, who loveth best
"All things both great and small;
"For the dear God who loveth us,
"He made and loveth all."

Dear listener beats his chest,
"The world felled when I fell!"
Speaking he his heritage
When lives a living hell.

_________________________________




People keep on learnin'
Soldiers keep on warrin'
World keep on turnin'
Cause it won't be too long!

Powers keep on lyin'
While your people keep on dyin'
World keep on turnin'
Cause it won't be too long!

I'm so darn glad He let me try it again
Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin
I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then
Gonna keep on tryin'
Till I reach the highest ground

Teachers keep on teachin'
Preachers keep on preachin'
World keep on turnin'
Cause it won't be too long
Oh no!

Lovers keep on lovin'
Believers keep on believin'
Sleepers just stop sleepin'
Cause it won't be too long
Oh no!

I'm so glad that He let me try it again
Cause my last time on earth I lived a whole world of sin
I'm so glad that I know more than I knew then
Gonna keep on tryin'
Till I reach my highest ground...whew!
Till I reach my highest ground
No one's gonna bring me down
Oh no
Till I reach my highest ground
Dont you let nobody bring you down (theyll sho nuff try)
God is gonna show you higher ground
He's the only friend you have around