Handshake The Gangster - Hey Rosetta!

are you a wolf,

warm in your pinstripes?

is your pen a bootknife,

drawing red and dollar green?

(two colours for everything)

look how the teeth gnash

look how they smile

it’s some kind of witchcraft

that keeps us laughing all the time

we did our jobs

so quick and calm

wasted no love

have i been drinking?

my feet are kicking

like someone’s pushing this institution down my throat

(and i’m going to choke!)

is this a living, this steady gunning?

it’s got a rhythm, sure, a hemiola to my pulse

(a messy rush!)

we did our jobs

so quick and calm

wasted no blood

ambition, give me wings

ambition, break my legs

she swims inside my head

was planted in my skin

(and i can’t forgive!)

have i been driving?

i see the lines bend

but i’ve not been steering and i keep on veering to the right

(to those blissful lies!)

when did they reach me, while i was sleeping?

when did they rein me?

interrogate my better sense

(with their fucking rent!)

and all my teachers, those dusty pilgrims

those plucky speakers are all just victims of a lie

(that they can’t deny!)

we did our jobs

so quick and calm

wasted our lungs