Cracked Pavement

I walk the cracked pavement with Time out-of joint.

I listen intently, but don't see His point.

My mind's held together, paperclips and tape;

I look pretty bad, but the world's in worse shape.

Old man babbles sweet to the dog in his arms,

'round the corner the hooker sellin' her charms.

Dark man shuffles past on the cracked pavement cold;

can't be picked up, can't be sold.

Lady with the false lashes and someone else's hair,

ya know she just stopped, just stopped and stared.

Abandon all hope… and don't ask why;

when you're walkin' cracked pavement, just look at the sky.

Was thinkin' 'bout Dante's multi-level Hell,

We just got one - but the thing wouldn't sell.

Saw the news in the gutter, somebody tossed away.

Walkin' cracked pavement, I saw that today.

Fools killin' for god - like He needs an assist:

No such thing Holy War - it just don't exist.

When buildings burn an' there's blood in the street,

You're on cracked pavement, an' god you won't meet.

The machines keep clickin', fated to crash;

A universe of rubble, smoke and ash.

The clock's runnin' down, for the world and me.

Walkin' cracked pavement, I just let it be.

It's all just a joke, rigged up in poor taste;

A few scraps of paper, a few bits of paste.

With geometrical signs in Linear Z,

It's all cracked pavement, and no one can see.

I'm walkin' on cracked pavement, one step at a time;

tryin' to keep it together,

all this on my mind.