Ruins

[Intro]
This is a song about druids
Late eighteenth-century, nineteenth-century British literature
There was a big fad on druids
And 'cause of this fad they sort of over-romanticized them
Sort of glossed over some of the starker facts
One of which was that the druids were into human sacrifice
This would happen at their two major festivals of the year
One was on May Day which they called Bealtaine
And the second was on Halloween which they called Samhain
And on these festivals they would build these huge wicker structures
And fill them full of choice prisoners and the first-born of every family
And set them on fire
This was to ensure a good harvest for the following year
And this would take place in a giant stone circle
In the middle of a sacred oak grove
And the mistletoe was a part of the ceremony
Other than all of this esoteric bullshit
This whole song takes place in the Bronx
I think you'll see some of the similarities

[Verse 1]
I have looked at Rome burning through the eyes of the Bronx
Sail away in the evening, sail away 'til the dawn
The parks' slow decaying, the yearning of lovers
Who find not a metaphor for their songs
Sail away from the land of Samhain
All's deserted 'cept the rock-gray pigeon
I lose only your smile like that of the child
Finds the fruits of the market are not all for free
There are not flowers left to throw on the grave

[Refrain]
Sail away to the land of Bealtaine
Sail away in the evening, sail away 'til the dawn

[Verse 2]
I have looked at these buildings as the towers of Carthage
Sail away in the evening, sail away 'til the dawn
Divorced from the feelings that fill them like bones
Stuffed like the wicker beast for the throng
Sail away from the land of Samhain
We worship the parasites of sin
The mistletoe grows in the cracks of the oak
The sacred grove is now glass and now stone
Those cold slabs of stone they lay the dead on

[Refrain]
Sail away to the land of Bealtaine
Sail away in the evening, sail away 'til the dawn

[Verse 3]
I have looked at these barges float down towards the sea
Sail away in the evening, sail away 'til the dawn
The ghosts of the automobiles gleam
Past the stadium silence the Nile moves along
Sail away from the land of Samhain
A life for a life is the offering
I lose only my song that's spread 'neath the wrong
Like a mother mourning her first-born to go
The kiss that is stolen or the kiss that is sold

[Refrain]
Sail away to the land of Bealtaine
Sail away in the evening, sail away 'til the dawn

[Outro]
"Ruins"