You started to spiral out The ground's just a circle in a decaying orbit You tried just to idle awhile, thought if you sat still You'll blend with the forest, well, you don't Noted another loss, well, don't feel bad, I mean, if you can help it You learn how to document, like bad weather patterns And I guess you can call it "Progress of a kind" Not everybody takes this long I can't unsee it, but man, can you believe that we're here There's always a try again Well, don't be upset when repeating a formative year Doing the same thing for years Repeating the formative years I try to settle down I fake my death, had no one believe it I fight with the neighbor's kid I ran over his bike, well, don't park it behind my van I became a frail black bird, my chest started burning I could die if you squeeze me too long I almost got away with it Starting to deal with the problem, so I guess you can call it "Progress of a kind" Not everybody takes this long I can't unsee it, but man, can you believe that we're here There's always a try again Well, don't be upset when repeating a formative year Doing the same thing for years Repeating the formative years Watch you in the morning come to life again Watch you in the evening fall apart the same Anemic numbers ruling over you and me It's the reason you refer to them as holding value They don't, they don't... It's unkind how often you're required to replay Your light, snuffed out, on fire, doused again Somehow you reignite and I'm impressed Not everybody takes this long I can't unsee it, but man, can you believe that we're here There's always a try again Well, don't be upset when repeating a formative year Not everybody takes this long I can't unsee it, but man, can you believe that we're here There's always a try again Well, don't be upset when repeating a formative year Watch you in the morning come to life Watch you in the evening fall apart again Anemic numbers ruling over you It's the reason you refer to them as holding value

An old Paiute woman Who survived the seizer's devastation Of Yellow Thunder Sees a prairie With tall verdant grass Flowing like in ancient days She lies in the grass Clutching handfuls of the green stuff With a hungry passion She has felt since childhood A Creek boy Missing his scalp Closes his eyes And dreams of his entire nation Welcoming him home Calling his name In sweet, familiar tones "Chijajin. Chijajin. Come home." A Cheyenne warrior Sees in his vision A black river Flowing over the verdant earth As it rolls towards him He sees it is the buffalo Risen again Growing like wild flowers Over the land Each sees part Of the ancient And future paradise Now awaiting them The Chief, Wavoka Having called Now listens for the response That will awake his slumbering people And redeem

If I'm ever to show my face in society again, I've got to find a new cause of my own and quickly. Come, come, any ideas? Daisy Greville has the old. Lady Sitwell has the blind And the fund for sailor's widows? That's the two of them combined Nightschool for the nervous? Lady Beach and Margaret Guest Crutches for the crippled? That was Elsie Ponds' bequest Wayward women Daisy Greville Who's behind disfigured men? Daisy Greville And the deaf... don't tell me it's Greville yet again. Everyone's got something can't you see why I'm bereft. I want to do some good but what the devil's left? What the devil's left? If I may your Ladyship, one hears about such terrible poverty in Egypt these days... Egypt. Land of the pharaohs and of Moses the Israelite. Home to the great pyramids and the sphinx. That's it! We'll populate an orphanage in Cairo, With foundlings from the reeds along the Nile. To watch a creature grow, to swaddle it and know the joy of its pathetic little smile It's little smile The news will travel soon enough to London To London Our selflessness will meet with great acclaim Huzzah The sniping will be stilled, and the empire will be filled, With homes for bastard children in my name. All aboard the Luxor express to Cairo. And off she went, What I failed to tell her was that a violent uprising against the empire was imminent And no british citizen was considered safe, so you can imagine my surprise when Lady Hyacinth returned to London quite unharmed. Oh where will my largesse be truly appreciated, I need a place so low that hope itself has been abandoned You've heard of course of the untouchables in India. India. Land of Hindus and Muslims, of camel run and saffron. Exotic and unknowable. That's it! We'll find ourselves some lepers in the Punjab. The hopeless and the wretched and the cursed. Forgotten and Unblessed Unblessed I'll take them to my breast Your Breast If Daisy Greville doesn't get there first. When we arrive, they'll hobble out to greet us Hello there Their toothless grins would melt a heart of stone Awww And every dilettante, will envy me and want a colony of lepers of her own, Now not a word to even your mothers til we leave although, Come to think of it what is the point of helping others unless you let the whole world know, Call the Times of London. And off she went, I neglected to mention the malaria pandemic in the Punjab A bit of insurance in case leprosy itself failed to prove contagious, So you can imagine my shock when Lady Hyacinth returned To London in record time quite the picture of health. I don't suppose you'd be willing to penetrate the jungle of deepest darkest Africa... Africa. From Zululand to Yoruba, Home of proud warriors that naked torsos rippling in the firelight. We'll civilize a village in the jungle The Jungle It can't take long to learn their mother tongue Not long then The words they have are six and five of them are clicks Click And all of them are different words for dong. And can't you see their frightful painted faces Their faces They'll teach us how to swing from vine to vine From vine to vine to vine It's Daisy Greville's loss, she'll never come across, a tribe of backward natives worse than mine. Their may appall us.But even they are part of God's design Awww We bid you all goodbye Goodbye Let all of London try, to find a tribe of natives worse than mine. Charity towards others is divine. Divine, Divine, Divine, Divine, Charity is Divine.

Ancestral Busts: Monty Navarro! You're here by invitation! Monty Navarro! You've wormed your way back in! But please resist the slightest inclination to feel at home! The ice is thin! Wipe off that grin! Oh, you may be clever but Monty you'll never win! You'll never win!

Monty, it's so strange. Everything will change. Think how our lives will be. I don't know what you'll do without me. Poor Monty, You're awfully handsome and smart. Poor Monty, You'll rise above. You'll put the loss of Sibella behind, And you will find someone better to love. Poor Monty, Have I just broken your heart? Poor Monty, Am I to blame? It may look bleak, but in a week, I'll wager you'll have forgotten my name. I think I can picture her now, Young and willing, Oh, it's thrilling! In a way you'll have me to thank. She'll be perfect, a shopper, a teacher, The sister of a preacher, or a widow with cash in the bank! Poor Monty, Cosy in a cottage for two. Oh Monty, Soon they'll be free, Nothing will stop, you'll ascend to the top, You'll own your own shop, Monty I guarantee. And I'll rue the day I turned you away, And I will say to myself: Poor me. I can picture us now; Very grand, in demand, Always somewhere exciting to go. Full of mayfair, we're limited, As lovers, and haters, For being the people people want to know. My husband, Will grow distinguished and grey. My husband, Will always be: Straight as a line, Steady and fine, Totally mine. Unfortunately, Dry as a bone, An insufferable drone, Dull as a stone. Poor me.

Monty Navarro, you know you don't belong here Monty Navarro, you're on a slippery slope Your presence is indubitably wrong here May we suggest We think you'd best Abandon hope Abandon hope But go ahead and take the tour As long as you are here Buy yourself a souvenir or two And one thing more Before you're out the door Sibella Will never marry you

Why are all the D'Ysquiths dying? What grisly sort of plague is going round? It seems with every day A D'Ysquith slips away And here we are assembled putting another one in the ground It's frankly all been rather mystifying Do forgive me if I scoff: But is it not a trifle odd How they've all gone off to God Suddenly they're congregating underneath the sod Oh, why are all the D'Ysquiths dying What a tasteless way of showing off Why are all the D'Ysquiths dying It seems that all of London's shaken to the core To lose one relative One can certainly forgive But how can you excuse losing two Or three Or four Or seven Why are all the D'Ysquiths dying I've never seen such recklessness before It's unnerving It's not that they're not undeserving Really Why are all the D'Ysquiths dying When truth to tell so many others should Though Privately it was said They should all drop dead No one thought They ever really would I happened to notice there wasn't a lot of crying I even heard a snigger from the back Oh, it really is a shame How I start to feel the same How many are there left to bury after what's-his-name? I ask you Why are all the D'Ysquiths dying Whoever's next, I swear I won't come back I'm utterly exhausted keeping track And most of all, I'm sick of wearing black