September Song... Angels

Angels is one of The Husband's Favorite songs. It came up on shuffle on my Ipod during my morning commute today. I became rather lost in the recording & this David Byrne composition seemed to speak to me in a new way.

I had been considering the front page story of the NY Times that made known the recent government study that found the poverty rate in our country is at a 52 year high. Nearly 3 million citizens fell below the poverty level in the past year & many more are not counted because they have moved in with friends or families, their unemployment has run out, or they do not making enough money to pay taxes. They fall off the radar & are no longer even a statistic.

I now presume that radical Right Wing religious fundamentalists, the individuals that fuel the Tea Baggers' rage for their own gain, & the ultra- conservatives are very possibly going to ruin this once great bastion of liberty & freedom for everyone.

I watched the Republican Presidential debate & followed in fear during Monday’s broadcast as CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked whether an uninsured 30 year-old who had chosen to go without insurance should be left to die if he falls unexpectedly ill.

Ron Paul: “What he should do is whatever he wants to do & take responsibility for himself.That’s what freedom is about.”

Blitzer pressed: “But, Congressman, are you saying the society should just let him die?”

“Yeah!” whooped the crowd as they applauded. In 2008, Paul's campaign manager, a healthy, but uninsured 49 year old, died from pneumonia  & left his family with $400,000 in medical debt.

We are, it seems, a mindless & violent species. I worry about the future of this world when people are driven to this degree of ignorance, greed & stupidity.

There are no angels left in America anymore

They left after the Second World War heading west

Stopping briefly in Japan during the 60's

Then in Tianamen Square during the last decade

They kept heading west to who knows where

What are they after?

What are they looking for?

A messiah who never comes?

A virgin birth?

A perfect drug?

A sign, any kind of sign?

Anything that looks slightly out of the ordinary

Flying over fields & factories

Momma's going off her head

Daddy's bringing home the bacon

Open up the pearly gates

Fruit of salty lubrication

Tangled up in arms & legs

I can barely touch the bottom

Now I'm working up a sweat!

I'm ready now

I'm ready now

I can barely touch my own self

How could I touch someone else?

I am just an advertisement

For a version of myself

Like molecules in constant motion

Like a million nervous tics

I am quivering in anticipation

Like the sunlight on their wings

I'm ready now (don't look back)

I'm ready now (I'm ready for this)

I'm ready now

The sensuous world - the smell of the sea

The sweat off their wings

The fruit from the trees

The angel inside

Who will meet me tonight

On wings of desire 

I come back alive

I'm ready

I'm ready

(I put the dogs outside)

I'm ready

I'm ready

(to take that ride)

I'm ready now

I'm ready now

(to take that wine)

I'm ready now but where are you?

Byrne
1994