in the beginning that bitch-- that cross eyed hag, screamed creation into being
don’t act surprised--you always knew it was that way. They took you and locked you in
sunday school and told you it was an old man because that’s the story old white men like to tell
but you know it was Her and now she haunts your dreams and steals your seed and
screams in your ear and that’s why shit’s the way it is.
dress her up and call her Wisdom, call her Mother Mary
but Astarte is still quite happy to take your children and the red on her lips
is not from revlon. No
denying her only makes her all the more frightening
and like any woman of any good character she will not be denied
but
in the begnning
in the beginning
with a note, with a prick, with a single
“ah!” the song began and grew louder and louder and went to a blinding scream--
you thought-- the light, how sweet is light--
a blinding radioactive scream that shattered everything that lived
only nothing lived
and that’s how everything began

old jews, old jews, we’re all old jews
old jewish men they saw Her hand and made it look like theirs
fathers and sons, fathers and sons
and holy spirits, threes in one
the Catholic church, down the street
on sunday morning must repeat
i do believe i do believe

but crossed eyed hags must be received.

and what did she do before she screamed?
for years and years she sat alone and kept no company but her own
and where she sat was darkness, and it was good and she called it nothing but preferred
it that way
and they etell you bullshit about the light, and having you running to it
but there was none of it. She did want it. Not back then
and under raven wings she brooded, floated over water and exuded everything you know or are
afraid to know. She made the stairs, she made the stairs that spiral down to
your nightmares
she made the snares, she made the snares and punched black holes like polar bears
in the screen of the whole wide world
she rode the snake, she rode the snake and then she did not hesitate to fuck the snake to fuck the
snake and if you ever really take a notion to stare into Her face
you’ll have to scream and then--
that-s when we run and make up something comforting
and become old jews, old jews, we’re all old jews
old jewish men they saw Her hand and made it look like theirs
fathers and sons, fathers and sons
and holy spirits, threes in one’
the Catholic church, down the street
on sunday morning must repeat
i do believe i do believe

but crossed eyed hags must be received.

they make a man twice as scary take the root and take the berry, worship not these other gods
but follow me on canaan’s sod, the only thing i want from thee is faith and love
unendingly
all i want is your only son
slain on an altar
everyone must prove their love to me-- you loved me faithfully
we’ll let him live
the christians say-- in exchange you can have mine
all just, sweet fathers would do the same
sacrifice their boy who came to the slaughter, as a lamb
and isn’t that sweet, here again
a father who killed his only son and made you drink his blood
it’s done-- the height of religion and a white man’s need
but the hag still needs to be received


old jews, old jews, we’re all old jews
old jewish men they saw Her hand and made it look like theirs
fathers and sons, fathers and sons
and holy spirits, threes in one’
the Catholic church, down the street
on sunday morning must repeat
i do believe i do believe

Auschwitz and armeggedon
school house shoot out at eleven, three crusades and bishops councils
crucifix, remember Rounceville
bloody ice cream, lemonade
the poor, unfortunate chambermaid
who on her knees cleaned up the floor
and on her knees, she did much more and more and more
than she was paid
now wipe your mouth sweet chamber maid
and you with all your Catholic guilt
who held the chalice and then spilt
your seed in a laundry room somewhere
with the girl you met behind the stair
and Protestants Zwingli, Knoxie John
for all their rationale and song, tossed in their beds and they were fucked
by Lillith till she’d had enough
and spewed out demons from her crotch
who sailed in ships and minds they tossed
and witches burned
and niggers hung and churches
sang old funeral songs
and God became a dreadful man
no smiling here, no rhyming.... no, and the whole pattern is lost.
ashes, ashes, ashes, and green tattooed numbers
and the feel of your tattoo, and the feel of your tattoo
and three hundred years later in this room the feel of your tattoo, and the warmth of your skin
and the warmth of your sheets
in this sexy room
the serpent blooms
and the hag screams again

old jews, old jews, have you heard the news
that everyone of us is an old jew
and fags who take it up the ass
you know that hate has got to pass
the fags, the fags, the fags, the fags
but each one of us takes it up the ass
sooner or later
in this life
and believe the lie that paradise
is bought at a price, bought in blood
from a man like a nigger hanging from wood
old jews old jews
and catholics too
on sunday morning they repeat
i do believe i do believe

but

the screaming hag will be received