The Bars in Boston are closed The basketballs in New York are all stuck at home And the snow piles heavy From my branches to my toes Waiting on a breeze The birds take to the streets Like the ghosts of New York Wondering if Jesus was born on the first day of spring this year We're changing things up don't be a speculator Just bet on beans Bet on toilet paper Bet on dirt bet on daisies Bet on shovels bet on spades For the great white peaks are blowing off steam Like the innocent cough Like the sinister sneeze And the artists with their beans in their pockets and their dreams Do as they do as they close their eyes Stare at the ground while the clouds catch fire Growing flowers in the carpet Spending hours trying to make themselves cry Till the white walls close And the words you wrote In the dark alone With your waxy notes Turns cold and rote Again and again and again Like the elves of New York On Christmas day Like the bars in Boston When the home team plays Like nothing not yet taken away Till the great corrector gets up from her knees And looks less like a man Looks more like a tree And every right angle twists and tangles into green And Jesus returns on a dinosaur Thou shalt not celebrate my birthday no more And the toilet paper moguls With their rollers and their bleach and their wars They yell right back with powerful words Like I don't know But maybe I could learn Till all falls silent But my branches and the breeze and the birds And the bars in Boston are all that remain Where a few old boys from South drink all day Singing "Danny Boy" And one about a girl from Galway And the birds sometimes hear their lonesome songs And they wonder if for beauty Or for nothing at all But they never listen in for too long