The Sound Of The Poulterer's Man

"As easy as throwing a chain 'round the moon" I'm guessing that that's what he meant When ending his talk in that late afternoon He'd got it, one hundred percent They rested in silence with hoods on their heads Like characters out of the Klan And then it came to me, from under their threads The sound of the Poulterer's man All four of them stood by the shimmering light Like ghosts from the silvery screen With faces of chalk, they were there to indict Debase and defile and demean When everything else had been taken away Their task of rebuilding began And what would be left by the end of the day? The sound of the Poulterer's man We'll argue 'round whether it's virtue or age I don't think it matters at all But sometimes you have to get out of the cage Climb to the top of the wall And look to your days in those dizzying streets Where something or nothing began Then study the silence, then learn to repeat The sound of the Poulterer's man It starts with a rattle of wheel upon stone And senses so hard to explain That wheedle and wound as they cut to the bone And then it starts over again But this time the rattle is quiet and mute The poison remains in the can There's time to recover, there's time to reboot The sound of the Poulterer's man If I'd have been anxious, if I'd been obsessed I'd never have started to climb When something's important, it must be addressed I've known that for most of my time With light flooding in from a faltering sky The rest of their day over-ran "Now open the hatches!" We all heard the cry The sound of the Poulterer's man When all that the earth had to offer was good We gratefully drank from the well And mostly believed that we knew where we stood Or kidded ourselves we could tell Those toxins that eddy and swirl in the mire Will show up again where they can And as for the rest? We can only admire The sound of the Poulterer's man When all that the earth had to offer was good We gratefully drank from the well And mostly believed that we knew where we stood Or kidded ourselves we could tell Those toxins that eddy and swirl in the mire Will show up again if they can And as for the rest? We can only admire The sound of the Poulterer's man