Living With The Big Lie

It all began with the bright light
The bright light and the noise
The chaos of the senses and the scream of desire.

Touching and being touched
A million loose ends to tie up
Ticking of the clock and the cradle rock.

The colours stand still
And then they move around
Comin' in and out of focus upside down.

Empty winter trees
How space feels Love of the soft ... flowers and the sky.

One fine day
The chaos subsides
Bleeds into awareness
And a lifetime of surprise.

The beauty of your mother's eyes
The pain when you fall
You drink it in and marvel at it all
But you never really figure it out.

You get used to it.

The babble of the family
And the dumb TV
Roar of the traffic and the thunder of jets.

Chemicals in the water
Drugs in the food
The heat of the kitchen and the beat of the system.

The attitude of authority
The laws and the rules
Hit me square in the face, first morning at school.

The heroes and the zeroes
The first love of my life
When to kiss and to kick and to keep your head down when they're choosing the sides
I was never any good at it
I was terrified most of the time
I never got over it
I got used to it.

Alone in the city at seventeen
With the hollow, the lonely
The drowning and the drowned
I was made to feel worthless
The wretched and the mean
Beat me up like a weapon
I can't run away from or find a way round
Holdin' on, holdin' on.

The greed and the missiles
Exploding somewhere every day
Hideous dark secrets under the sea and in holes in the ground.

The cold war's gone
Those bastards'll find us another one
They're here to protect you, don't you know?
So get used to it Get used to it!

The clash of religions
The loaded prayers
Information
The face of starvation and the state of the nation.

The sense that it's useless
And the fear to try
Not believing the leaders, the media that feeds us
Living with the big lie.

You get used to it.