In Deep End Dance Day

on the fourth of july

you must tell me sweet lies

like you put up the stars just for me.

on the third or the sixth

you can just take the fifth

on the fourteenth you can take the bastille.

if the glare of the rockets

burns my eyes from their sockets,

the dawn’s early light will reveal me.

then point me due north

cause tonight we’ll go forth

and run ’til we’re gallantly streaming.

oh say what you please

only stay next to me

e pluribus unum

etcetera.

we’ll put out all fires

but the ones in our hearts

(where old glories are spun into stories)

as o’er the ramparts

swing low, sweet chariots —

the brave are here to take us home.

and it pays to remember

the present will pass

like embers to ash,

but the future is always free.

MCO 2021