Waving Goodbye 09: Martyrs Die For Love

Dogface offered to take me out for a drink.  He was one of my few old friends that was still around. He knew a place that stayed open all night, which is pretty rare in this town, as you probably know.  He used to go there during the curfew. So we’re having a couple drinks and after a while this guy comes in carrying a guitar and a paper bag.  Dogface gave me a nudge. “You know who that is?  It’s Saint Genesius. You know?  ‘I came to make you laugh, but now I bring you joy.’  That’s him.”  That’s why I love going out with Dogface—he knows all those guys.  So then sometime a little later a girl came in holding an empty bird cage.  Her eyes were blank and scary, and she said, “It’s over, it’s over, he’s gone, my little bird is gone, he’s gone away”, all like that.  And we’re just trying to have a drink, you know?  Genesius walked over and put his arms around her.  “Why are people so awful to one another?” she said.  “I know,” he said.  “So much trouble,” she said.  “So much trouble and for what?” “I know,” he said.  And Dogface turned to me and said, “You know, Johny, some suffering can be redemptive.  It can.”  He took a last sip and finished his drink.  “But sometimes suffering is just suffering.” And he lifted a finger to try to catch the bartender’s eye to order another one.



Martyrs Die For Love lyrics