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At the back of the carnival

Our slaves grinning, mocking

Uncurling slowly

Candy melts behind my own knowing smile

Cruel laughter in the sky

Show some teeth

Show some teeth now to feel alive

Children are pulled onto mattresses of hay

A nickelodeon wheezes and trembles in rust

Women sigh heavily with the rain

A noose, a knife, a gun, some pills

You say we'll leave another day

Wait a little more (but will we die in time?)

Dying, hissing, cursing as serpents

Dying just in time

Lords of everything

Lords of nothing

So laugh, lords of suicide

Oh, meeting you at the midway

In the air of sawdust and sunset

Our lies forgotten (mostly yours)

All the exits blocked by a sudden darkness

Carry something real in your eyes

You say empty out your heart at the right

moment

Leave absolutely nothing behind

So laugh, lords of suicide

But first walk without fear, with pride

At the back of the carnival

Where the shadows twist and beckon

Our servants forever, you promised

Melting under the rain, in the midst of needles

Dying, hissing, cursing

Waiting one more day