Railroad yard in San Jose
I wandered desolate
In front of a tank factory
And sat on a bench
Near the switchman's shack.
A flower lay on the hay on
The asphalt highway
--the dread hay flower
I thought--It had a
Brittle black stem and
Corolla of yellowish dirty
Spikes like Jesus' inchlong
Crown, and a soiled
Dry center cotton tuft
Like a used shaving brush
That's been lying under
The garage for a year.
Yellow, yellow flower, and
Flower of industry,
Tough spiky ugly flower,
Flower nonetheless,
With the form of the great yellow
Rose in your brain!
This is the flower of the World.
I wandered desolate
In front of a tank factory
And sat on a bench
Near the switchman's shack.
A flower lay on the hay on
The asphalt highway
--the dread hay flower
I thought--It had a
Brittle black stem and
Corolla of yellowish dirty
Spikes like Jesus' inchlong
Crown, and a soiled
Dry center cotton tuft
Like a used shaving brush
That's been lying under
The garage for a year.
Yellow, yellow flower, and
Flower of industry,
Tough spiky ugly flower,
Flower nonetheless,
With the form of the great yellow
Rose in your brain!
This is the flower of the World.
Other albums by the artist
Holy Soul Jelly Roll
1994 · compilation
First Blues
1983 · compilation
The Last Word on First Blues
1983 · album
First Blues: Rags, Ballads and Harmonium Songs
1981 · album
Plutonian Ode
2021 · single
A Dream Record
2021 · single
The Complete Songs of Innocence and Experience
2017 · album
Ballad Of The Lights
2010 · single
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