Tall dance the poppies
Abscond abscond you vagabond rat
but leave me that gunny and the tall straw hat
Sell you the pastry and the cannonball tat
and the skipping ropes and the old goose-fat
Take you the bowery and that bovine cat
Leave the peacock feather pinched from my cap
Depart depart oh rotten fiend you
And stir up the soup and obsidian stew
The stairs are broken and the roof is not new
And the maggoty offal is turning to blue
The silence between us it grows as it grew
Tall dance the poppies on this heart you slew
Begone begone you wiley judge old
With your whiskers and whispering voice in the cold
Gather the terrapins and the housepig bold
And cast them out, for the seller got sold
For I taught you a lesson, but it was I who got told
Now you'll dance and laugh at the night till it folds
We'll laugh at the beauty, the sadness, the hate
We'll laugh at our laughing, the darkness negate
The sand will slip through our fingers at a terrible rate
For I was the rod and you the bait
And I'll catch you walking, in some woman's gait
Catch your memory wandering - that is my fate