Baby John:
O kinsfolk and gentlefolk, PLEASE be forgiving,
But nothing can lure me to living, to living.
I’m snug where I am; I don’t WISH to burst through.
Chorus of Nurses, Furies, & Muses:
That’s what YOU think.
If only you KNEW!
Baby John:
Well then YES, I’ll be BORN, but my EARTH will be heaven;
My dice will throw nothing but seven-eleven;
Life is tall lilacs, all giddy with dew.
Chorus of Nurses, Furies, & Muses:
That’s what YOU think
If only you KNEW!
Baby John:
Well then YES, there’ll be sorrows, be sorrows that best me;
But these are mere teasings to test me, to test me.
We’ll ZOOM from our graves when God orders us to.
Chorus of Nurses, Furies, & Muses:
That’s what YOU think.
If only you KNEW!
Baby John:
Well then YES, I’ll belie my belief in survival
But IF there’s no God, then at least there’s no devil:
If at LAST I must die—well, at LEAST when I do.
It’s clear I won’t sizzle.
Chorus of Nurses, Furies, & Muses:
If only you KNEW!