we've done this every Labor Day since 1969
we all go up to China Lake to spend a little time
in a Minnesota summer beneath the Minnesota sky
we celebrate the newborns and remember those who've died
at China Lake

we're all worried about Richard; he sits staring through the day
that straw hat on his head and nothing much to say
at night I hear him wandering through the trees and down the lanes
of China Lake

he was always known for brooding but this year there's been a change
I'm not the only one who's noticed something ain't the same
at China Lake

but there's this shine
there's a shine on China Lake
the vistas they stretch out forever
a shine, there's a shine on China Lake
here it's only quiet; no hurricanes or riots
but hovering there behind it, the pain and the shame of surrender

last night I had this dream it was a strange dream indeed
I cut my arm a thousand times but nowhere did I bleed
the crippled all were dancing and the blind they all could see
and a vendor selling streamers walked the quiet empty streets
of China Lake

there was a pale horse; it was a pale horse that I rode
and I sat there by the shoreline and I watched the sky explode
at China Lake

there's a shine
a shine on China Lake
the vistas they stretch out forever
there's a shine, a shine on China Lake
here it's only quiet; no hurricanes or riots
but hovering there behind it, the pain and the shame of surrender

these are strange uncertain days
these are strange uncertain days

© 1992 Zen of Iniquity Publishing