Flee the crowds that mill in the courtyard
Find a place where you can be safe
Hide yourself where rainbow stalactites brush your head
In your wooden cave
And when your thoughts become unbearable
Make for the racks of books
With unreadable symbols running down their spines
And take a long, hard look
Nothing can preserve you
Like staring at a page
With characters that silence your mind
Nothing can preserve you
Like staring at a page
With characters that silence your mind
Find the ledgers full of names of immigrants
Who sailed from Holland long ago
See the rows of numbers encoding their lives
With information you'll never know
See unfinished odes on the blinds
Written their by a legion of hands
Rearrange the fragments until they disappear
Don't try to understand
Nothing can preserve you
Like staring at a page
With characters that silence your mind
Nothing can preserve you
Like staring at a page
With characters that silence your mind
When the tumult dies down
Return to the world anew
The knowledge that you glean from pages you can't read
Will be a bulwark for you
Nothing can preserve you
Like staring at a page
With characters that silence your mind
Nothing can preserve you
Like staring at a page
With characters that silence your mind