The Farm

He was tall and slender and his bearing was rough.
He was carrying a lantern and a lot of other stuff
and bits of it kept dropping, and he just let them fall.
He said: “I can pick up some but I can’t get them all.”
He was an unsuccessful man, but his smile still had its charm.
He said: “Wait for me, brother, I’ll see you down on the farm.”

He asked me for something, I gave him a golden ring.
He said “I know I should thank you but I can’t eat this thing,
And if I wore it on my hand it would only stir up hate
so won’t you take it back, it doesn’t fit on my plate.”
And he held out his hand with it bright on his palm
He said: “Keep it for me brother till we meet on the farm.”

My sister came to me, she had tangled yellow hair
She said: “My sweet-heart has left me, and you know, I couldn’t care.”
I could easily get another, I could pull any stranger,
but what I can’t escape is the feeling of danger.
This is no place for us, I feel we’ll all come to harm.
So let’s get out of here and go back down to the farm.

Then some other man came running, his hair was full of lice
I greeted at him once, he looked the other way twice.
He was restless and scratching, there were sores around his lips.
His eyes were full of aeroplanes, his ears could hear the ships
all waiting in the harbour calling where the sea was flat and calm.
He said “Run away with me brother and we’ll go to the farm.”

I’ve never been to the farm, I don’t know its whereabouts
but the streets are full of aliens, and homeless kids and touts.
I suspect that it’s a place where aimless people need to go
but as I’ve never been there I suppose I wouldn’t know.
I hope the sirens in the hallway are just another false alarm.
I said: “Wait for me, brother, I’ll see you down on the farm.”