Write Back
At the last moment he picked up the phone and gave you a call
You thought about letting it ring, but you answered after all
And there you were, put on the spot at the end of the other line
For questions that you never thought you'd ever have to answer to
Who do you turn to when the ones you always turn to go and turn on you
It leaves you in the dark, feeling for a switch to turn it on again
There are no easy answers, the questions remain tough
There's no shortcuts to easy street, no
The Colonial Wing
[ music: Robert Buck/lyric: Natalie Merchant ]
here is the store house of Her Majesty
well guarded by sentry
but looks are free
call this the rayless and benighted age
witches by tallow candles shifted
shifted their shapes
here is the pestle and mortar
that ground the poison seed
a lute, a suit for jousting
and the poems of a balladeer
when all the Latin books were copied off
in golden script
well hoarded away in
a monastery crypt
superstition
superstition beyond belief
over mountain, over dune and over sea
crude map and compass lead the caravan
and lead the fleet
here's the loot and plunder
they bore home
ivory tusk inlaid with precious stone
raw silk and spices by the barrel load
a soft skin drum with mallets
of human bone
a world wide rampage
rampage of greed
so here the tour concludes
The Colonial Wing
the rooms of the most refined
museum property
an early pair of spectacles
a claw footed divan
ornate clocks with birds that strut
on the half hours and quarter hours
hear them chime