Cross Purpose

This is how it went: a bed and breakfast under fascist skies
Providence had slept in it; he could not be revived
And a widowed mother sweeps, a loveless daughter weaves
There'd been another, a son and brother
Long gone, no sign of return

But, sure enough, from a distant road
Yeah, one lined with gold
He'd come armed with a wife and prosperous new life
And outside the motel door she bade him leave
And said "Why must you go alone?
Hey, why don't you stay here with me?"

So he waltzed there on it, saw his sister, pale and thin
And her lustreless eyes showed no recognition of him
She whispered down to her mother
"Well hey, here comes another."
The mother says "Daughter,
I'm getting too old. This guilt is corroding my bones."
The daughter says "Well,
this will be the last, and all our woes will have passed
"We can sit by the sea, mother, just you and me
"With this wallet of just one more rich man, sinking deep in the dam
"Take him the cup of tea because,
anywhere they sleep, they sleep so peacefully."

And, when it was over and they got back on track
The mother says "Hey, that man,
he was so heavy, now I can't move my back."
And they opened his wallet to see what treasure lay within
The mother turns pale
She says "Lord, no. My son, your brother, it was him
"And here I couldn't tell because I've been dead for so long
"Like some daughter of Israel gorging on her own flesh and blood
"And I'll join him and sink deed in the mud."
The daughter says "Well hey,
what's the use if he was my brother or your son?
"Well, he left us for dead, and what of our plans?
"I don't care if I never feel the touch or the kiss of a man
"I don't care if I never feel the kick of a child within
"I'm going to go out with what's left,
even if it's just the sun on my skin."