He passed us as we laughed The stranger talking of our memories We drank a while, and didn't even see him The conversation drifted on To he who was to die next morning Leave his mark on life to be forgotten And as we talked he watched and listened To the words that poured out hated From the garbage of our bellies so long hidden We curst and swore & damned The very body that gave breath To such a man who's very name we could not utter
And the stranger came and joined us He sat dawn at our table Wished us all good evening, and he smiled He joked and sang us songs Of life and love and even dying And no shadow passed before us all the while We talked long through the midnight And then far into the morning Till the light crept through the shutter casting shadows Till once again the conversation turned To he who was to die And every decent soul might sleep in peace again
The stranger smiled a little sadly And said not to judge our knowing That a story told too often, is told too well That situations make a man And not man a situation And we nodded though we couldn't understand Then he wished us all good luck And he stepped out in the morning Where the mist was slowly laughing at the dawn And we called him by the name of friend And said we see him soon again To talk of all the things we haven't said
The drinks were gone, bottles blown The money we once had was gone So laughing we all stumbled to the hanging But the laughter turned to ashes When we looked beyond the hangman For the face upon the scaffold was the stranger's