Biting Your Tail

May your eyes be wide and seeing
May your learn from the view where you're kneeling
Know the fear of the world that you're feeling
Is the fear of a slave

May you know how the fight was started
Want as much for the snake as the garden
Wear 'em both like a glove
That you can wave

May your mouth betray your wisdom
May you get what they fail to mention
May your love be your only religion
Preach it to us all

May you lose what you offer gladly
May you worship the time and it's passing
Stars won't ever wait for you
To watch 'em fall

We're the smoke on a burnt horizon
We're the boat on a tide that's rising
Both the post and the pig you're untying
Butcher gone for the blade

Someday we may all be happy
Someday I'll make a face worth slapping
Someday we may be shocked to be laughing
At the way we behave

May your hands be strong and willing
May you know when to speak and to listen
May you find every friend that you're missing
There's no check in the mail

May you end it bruised and purple
And know that peace is the shape of a circle
Round and round you'll go
Biting your tail

We're the children the wind is whipping
Short hands on a clock still ticking
Both the egg and the red fox grinning
His belly full for the day

Someday we may all want nothing
And I'll forget that we'll get what's coming
Someday I'll say the world was something
That we just couldn't change

May your tongue be something wicked
And know your part in the calf and the killing
See straight through the captain you're kissing
The helm lose in his hand

May your words be well worth stealing
And put your hand on your heart when you're singing
The choir's sick of the song
But they still gotta stand