Five Times You Might Not Wave Goodbye
1) Your winning streak finally comes to an end. You bet everything you have all on one roll of the dice and lose it all. You’re broke now. You beg the croupier to let you stake the watch your father gave you; it’s solid gold, worth a couple hundred easy. You fall to your knees and hug his legs, begging. “Stand up,” he says. “I can’t help you.” Finally the bouncers come and escort you out. As the door slams behind them, you do not wave goodbye.
2) You see a man in the street, mercilessly flogging his horse. You beg him to stop, but he ignores you until the horse collapses, a bloody carcass. You’re sobbing, just stop it, please stop, but he spits and says, “What’s it to you?” and turns away. You do not wave goodbye.
3) You are the last soldier at Waterloo. All your fellow soldiers have left. The muddy fields are soaked with blood. Your uniform is in tatters and you have no boots. Beginning the long journey back to your little farm in Avignon, you see a Russian soldier hiding in the white birch trees. He looks even worse than you do, and more scared. You do not wave goodbye.
4) The lawgiver, who left more than a month ago and nobody knew when he’d be back, finally returns. He saw the idol you’d built, which was just supposed to tide everyone over until he came back, but it completely freaks him out. He totally loses it and breaks the tablets of the law, then he grinds the idol into a powder and makes you drink it, and then runs to the gates of the city, vowing that the guilty will all be slain. You do not wave goodbye.
5) On Ash Wednesday, the priest smears ashes on your forehead and murmurs, “Now go in peace.” You leave, but do not wave goodbye.
Ash Wednesday lyrics
1) Your winning streak finally comes to an end. You bet everything you have all on one roll of the dice and lose it all. You’re broke now. You beg the croupier to let you stake the watch your father gave you; it’s solid gold, worth a couple hundred easy. You fall to your knees and hug his legs, begging. “Stand up,” he says. “I can’t help you.” Finally the bouncers come and escort you out. As the door slams behind them, you do not wave goodbye.
2) You see a man in the street, mercilessly flogging his horse. You beg him to stop, but he ignores you until the horse collapses, a bloody carcass. You’re sobbing, just stop it, please stop, but he spits and says, “What’s it to you?” and turns away. You do not wave goodbye.
3) You are the last soldier at Waterloo. All your fellow soldiers have left. The muddy fields are soaked with blood. Your uniform is in tatters and you have no boots. Beginning the long journey back to your little farm in Avignon, you see a Russian soldier hiding in the white birch trees. He looks even worse than you do, and more scared. You do not wave goodbye.
4) The lawgiver, who left more than a month ago and nobody knew when he’d be back, finally returns. He saw the idol you’d built, which was just supposed to tide everyone over until he came back, but it completely freaks him out. He totally loses it and breaks the tablets of the law, then he grinds the idol into a powder and makes you drink it, and then runs to the gates of the city, vowing that the guilty will all be slain. You do not wave goodbye.
5) On Ash Wednesday, the priest smears ashes on your forehead and murmurs, “Now go in peace.” You leave, but do not wave goodbye.
Ash Wednesday lyrics
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