No Reptiles

Slip from the trees
To the dirt to the menace
To the wild to the car
Under snow, cut to ribbons
Like a coral to your shin
Like a manacle to swing

Fresh from the breast
Now a river running fat
To the manor born a rat
To the manor born a flea
To a flood to a drain
Now a rubber, now a chain

I was in the war
You were in the war

Plump from the sugar-water pump
With the city at your back
To the cannon with a match
From a milk into a mass grave
Never mind that, I can take that

Bones in a bowl
Like a toad-in-the-hole
Take the shape of the mould
Like a mummy on a pole
And a merry little head
Bob around when you're dead

I was on my knees
You were on your knees

And no reptiles!
Just soft boiled eggs in shirts and ties
Waiting for the flashing green man
Quivering and wobbling just like all the eggs you know

I’m going to kill a stranger
So don’t you be a stranger

Oh baby, it’s alright
It’s alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair
Old enough to run
Old enough to fire a gun

Just give me this one night
Just one night to feel
Like I might be on the right path
The path that takes me home
Wise enough to know myself

Old enough to fire a gun

Just give me this one night
Just one night to feel