The Gates Of Eden

THE GATES OF EDEN- Bob Dylan

Of war and peace the truth just twists, its curfew gull it glides

Upon 4-legged forest clouds the cowboy angel rides

With his candle lit into the sun, though its glow is waxed in black

All except when 'neath the trees of Eden

The lampost stands with folded arms, its iron claws attached

To curbs 'neath holes where babies wail though it shadows metal badge

All in all can only fall with a crashing but meaningless blow

No sound ever comes from the gates of Eden

This savage soldier sticks his head in sand and then complains

Unto the shoeless hunter who's gone deaf but still remains

Upon the beach where hounddogs bay at ships with tattooed sails

Heading for the gates of Eden

With a time-rusted compass blade, Aladdin and his Lamp

Sits with utopian hermit monks, side-saddle on the Golden Calf

And on their promises of paradise you will not hear a laugh

All except inside the gates of Eden

Relationships of ownership they whisper in the wings

To those condemned to act accordingly and wait for succeeding kings

And I try to harmonize with songs the lonesome sparrow sings

There are no kings inside the gates of Eden

The motorcycle black madonna two-wheeled gypsy queen

And her silver studded phantom cause the grey-flanneled dwarf to scream

As he weeps to wicked birds of prey who pick up on his breadcrumbs sins

And there are no sins inside the gates of Eden

The kingdoms of experience in the precious winds they rot

While paupers change possessions each one wishing for what the other has got

And the princess and the prince discuss what's real and what is not

It doesnt matter inside the gates of Eden

The foreign sun it squints upon a bed that is never mine

As friends and other strangers from their fates try to resign

Leaving men wholly totally free to do anything they wish to do but die

And there are no trials inside the gates of Eden

At dawn my lover comes to me and tells me of her dreams

With no attempts to shovel the glimpse into the ditch of what each one means

At times I think there are no words but these to tell what's true

And there are no truths outside the gates of Eden

(from Bringing it All Back Home, 1965)

(sent by Harlan at harlant@hawaii.edu)