The children always followed him
When they saw him hopping by
A funny walk
A funny man
A funny, funny, funny man
He made them laugh sometimes
He made them laugh, oh yes he did
He did, he did, he did, he did
Oh how he made them roll
One day he took them to a place he knew, a special place
And told them things about this world
This funny, funny, funny world
Which made them laugh sometimes
He made them laugh, oh yes he did
He did, he did, he did, he did
Oh how he made them roll
Then the funny little man who made them laugh
Sometimes he did
Revealed to them his special plan
His very special funny plan
Knowing they would understand
And maybe laugh sometimes
He made them laugh
Oh yes he did
He did, he did, he did, he did
Their eyes grew wide beneath their lids
And how he made them roll

I first learned the facts from a lunatic
In a dark and quiet room that smelled of stale time and space
There are no people
Nothing at all like that
The human phenomenon is but the sum of densely coiled layers of illusion
Each of which winds itself upon the supreme insanity
That there are persons of any kind
When all there can be is mindless mirrors
Laughing and screaming as they parade about
In an endless dream
But when I asked the lunatic what it was that saw itself within these mirrors
As they marched endlessly in stale time and space
He only rocked and smiled
Then he laughed and screamed
And in his black and empty eyes
I saw for a moment, as in a mirror
A formless shade of divinity
In flight from its stale infinity
Of time and space and the worst of all
Of this world's dreams
My special plan for the laughter
And the screams

We went to see some little show
That was staged in an old shed
Past the edge of town
And in its beginnings all seemed well
The miniature curtain stage glowed in the darkness
While those dolls bounced along on their strings before our eyes
And in its beginnings all seemed well
But then there came a subtle turning point
Which some had noticed (and I was one)
Who quietly left the show (no, I did not)
Because I could see where things were going
As the antics of those dolls grew strange
And the fragile strings grew taut
With the tiny pullings of tiny limbs
The others around me became appalled
And turned away and abandoned the show
That was staged in an old shed
Past the edge of town
But I wanted to witness what could never be
I wanted to see what could not be seen
But the moment of consummate disaster
When puppets turn to face the puppet master

It was twilight and I stood in the greyish haze of a vast empty building
When the silence was enriched by a reverberant voice
All the things of this world, it said
Are of but one essence
For which there are no words
This is the greater part which has no beginning or end
And the one essence of this world for which there can be no words
Is but all the things of this world
This is the lesser part which had a beginning and shall have an end
And for which words were conceived solely to speak of
The tiny broken beings of this world, it said
The beginnings and endings of this world, it said
For which words were conceived solely to speak of
Now remove these words and what remains, it asks me
As I stood in the twilight of that vast empty building
But I did not answer
The question echoed over and over
But I remained silent until the echoes died
And as twilight passed into evening I felt my special plan
For which there are no words
Moving towards a greater darkness

There are some who have no voices
Or none that will ever speak
Because of the things they know about this world
And the things they feel about this world
Because the thoughts that fill a brain
That is a damaged brain
Because the pain that fills a body
That is a damaged body
Exist in other worlds
Countless other worlds
Each of which stands alone in an infinite empty blackness
For which no words have been conceived
And where no voices are able to speak
When a brain is filled only with damaged thoughts
When a damaged body is filled only with pain
And stands alone in a world surrounded by infinite empty blackness
And exists in a world for which there is no special plan