Red Mark
[Verse 1]
There is a notice on the door
Which condescends in legal form

That you've got one more chance to pay
Or we will send you on your way, without a prayer
And draw a red mark by your name

The bottles confiscate the floor
That old salvation of the poor
The wheel grinds with solid pace and draws on us a laughing face
Before the exhibition of the judge's crooked race

[Chorus]
And I am paddling, oh, crooked river spine
And I am gasping for a single breath of something unpolluted
And I was growing tired before I ever cut my hands and learned to sing

But should the cold air blow the smoke back to my eyes
I will not weep now
For the sake of anything
That rotten animal of time
Bites at my heels, and that's just fine
For all I ask is some division of the tired slums and prisons
From the comfort of my mother's distant home

[Verse 2]
So, now I try to make my way
I am scavenging this place
For some artifact to sell
Because the bank is raising Hell and all I have is just this weapon in its case

And on the seventh day, it snowed
It was the first time I got cold
Since February of this year, back when all our fickle fears and hibernation were just ringing us in our ears

And does the compass needle sway?
When you lose your eyesight and your taste?
Collect my money and good luck to all those sleeping standing up
Believing some of us aren't bound and tricked and duck (?)

[Chorus]
And I am paddling, oh, crooked river spine
And I am grasping for a single branch beneath the shoreline
And I was growing tired before I ever cut my hands and learned to sing

But should the cold air blow the smoke back to my eyes
I will not weep now
For the sake of anything