03-20-03

Have you forgotten yet?...

The reaper and a soldier-man
Were walking by the sea
Said Reaper to the soldier-man:
Rise up and follow me
The reaper was a pretty girl
With hair of midnight hue
Skin silver as the pure moonlight
And eyes more black than blue

Said Reaper to the soldier-man
Walking an endless mile
Said Reaper to the soldier-man
Said Reaper with a smile
(Her teeth were sharp as splintered bone,
Her tongue the pink of gore)
Said Reaper to the soldier-man
Walking that empty shore:

Oh won’t you dance with me tonight
And dance a dance of death?
Let’s out and dance the streets tonight
We’ll dance a hangman’s jig
Our feet will never sleep tonight
Our hands will busy be
For tonight we’ll go a dancing
A dancing, you and me.

So that reaper and her soldier-man
They went a dancing one cold night
Weaving darkness where there was light
They danced `neath the moon and the stars and the sun
And they didn’t stop dancing till the last dance was done
Oh the reaper she laughed and the soldier he wept
As the sun for shame from vision crept
The earth was red-stained, the sky tinged black
And the soldier still danced with a devil on his back.

Have you forgotten yet?...
Look up, and beg forgiveness from all those you so quickly forget.