To live outside the pale
Is to wither and die
Beyond the pale
There are only dressed-up cadavers
They are wound up each day
Like alarm clocks
They perform like seals
They die like box office
Like box office receipts
They perform like seals
They die, they die
They perform like seals
They die, they die
Each day, each day
Each day, each day
But in the seething honey-comb
There is a growth as of plants
An animal warmth almost suffocating
A vitality which accrues
From rubbing and glueing together
A hope which is physical
As well as spiritual
A contamination which is dangerous but salutary
Small souls perhaps
Burning like tapers
But burning steadily
And capable of throwing portentous shadows
On the walls which hem them in
All goes round and round
All goes round and round
Creaking, wobbling, lumbering
Whimpering some-tunes
But round and round and round
But round and round and round
Then, if you become very still
Standing on a stoop, for instance
And carefully think no thoughts
And carefully think no thoughts
A myopic, bestial clarity besets your vision
There is a wheel
There are spokes
And there is a hub
And in the center of the hub there is exactly
Nothing