the formalities or amenities of conduct

[samoan_bob]

                      I
A punctilious dog returns to his vomit

With all manner of conduct and code

A punctilious whore returns to her lover

Walking barefoot on a long-traveled road

II

And the congregation of tombstones

Sings on the wind,

As I drink from a flask of plum wine

And the howl of the dog soon will begin

As I tie up my guitar with twine

An old black crow was thrown in the center

A prison of wood and of strings

And I pluck at the bars

Underneath the dead stars

And with all of the tombstones I sing

III

I'm told not to let the drink tempt me

"The bottle is where Satan hides."

I say God lives in the bottle until it is empty

Then that's where Satan resides

IV

There's an inscription

Oft reproduced

Free from all form of formality

A short, brief description

That a gaunt man deduced

A cold vision of moral fatality

This rotted conniption

That all logic's reduced

In this dreaded, silhouetted principality

And here reads that inscription:

"A female's seduced

With a complete and utter lack of personality"

V

Smells of boiled bone. Sips of broken glass

I open my wounds so they're fresh

But I know that with time this too shall pass

When I lay with my opiate of flesh