She paused in damp silence                                    Dance to your Daddy
illumination of a street lamp gazed upon her face           my little baby
and pushed her forward                                         Dance to your Daddy
She contemplated nothing,                                      my little lamb
felt the anguish, alienation of acknowledgement             you shall have a fishy
"Alligator pears," her mother had said somewhere,         in a little white dishy
eating the soft meat of an avocado                            you shy when the boat comes in
Now it echoed like church bells in her ears,                 Father's at the sea, oh baby mine
chanting the obscenities of a dying old man                 Father's at the sea, oh baby mine
the taste of cancer in her mouth                               When the wind is in the east
and then the... and then the quiet cold of being             tis neither food for man nor beast
sliding down narrow streets at night,                          When the wind is in the north,
trying to find...                                                   the skillful fisher goes not forth

Bleak light the color of rancid cream                        When the wind is in the south
flickered on her skin                                            it blows the bait in the fish's mouth
and the cracks and slivers in a thousand-million            When the wind is in the west,
bricks of building became the bloody blood of war         then tis at it's very best, hush baby
corroding limbs, deterioting flesh
splashing images on corporate abattoirs                    There is herring in the bay
                                                                    You'll be the fisherman someday
Tears found her
Loneliness and disgust sank into her stomach              Dance to your Daddy
but then it's only nothing, it's... it's only nothing           my little baby
Meandering hollow sidewalks in the darkness               Dance to your Daddy
swallowing pictures and sounds                               my little lamb
as sharp as... as painful as... as memories of... of...      you shall have a fishy
Alligator pears, which like her,                               in a little white dishy
are nothing either                                               you shall have a fishy when the boat comes in
                                                                    my little baby, my little lamb
                                                                    Daddy, daddy where have gone?