It's Five O'Clock in America

wake up and see clearly
brush your pretty hair darling and arise from your doldrums
the drear and fog will pass

in the woods the trees are brush tangled and thorny in thickets but the sun will come filtering through branches
and you will stand tall in the company of wolves and birds that stretch and stock in dark places
they watch from the trees, they're watching from the trees

and frances calls me from california to tell me about her nightmares
faceless men in cows with guns and gowns
hot nuclear blast mushrooming over brooklyn
her kid sister gone missing
her teeth falling out crumbles
witches in the skies

wake up and see clearly
see fall leaves trampled and wet under vision streets of the sidewalk as yellow
see clearly and wake up
and we'll meet downtown on the coldest day of the year and talk flush-faced
in the bar while buses hiss past and the commuters trudge, death marching home
and the wind works into their clothes, so the streets choke and swell and burst expelling gray clouds of bone dust
made from leg bones and teeth and sheets of skin
and bodies walk in great masses with umbrellas
from jobs that drug them to loveless love affairs
through alarm clocks chime and doors slam and the beeps of microwave ovens go on
past street constructions, street lamps flicking on and roads
pale light from office windows and it's five o'clock in america
and everyone's sleepwalking
they're watching from the trees!
they watch from the trees!
they're watching from the trees!
they're watching from the trees!
they watch from the trees!
they're watching from the trees!
they're watching from the trees!
they're watching from the trees!
they're watching us from the trees!
they're watching from the trees!
they're watching from the trees!