I wrote a song last week about some of the big, confusing, often exasperating mysteries of life, personal and global. Am feeling even more so after this week’s exposed vulnerabilities here in Austin where we spent three freezing days without power and are now waiting for safe drinking water to return.

What Do I Know?

Where do we come from and where do we go?
What am I doing here? What do I know?
When will I become who I want to be?
I can’t ignore all the shit I see.

Why cannot humans cooperate?
To kill the cancers of war and hate?
Why do we think ourselves as separate?
We’re killing ourselves with the planet.

What do I know?
No guarantees
What can I say?
It’s a mystery to me

Is it wrong that I touch myself?
Is it wrong that I think of you?
Locked inside a wooden box up in the tower
Over the falls, overwhelmed and overpowered

We come together then we shoot apart
We call it love then we make it art
Every day is just another wave
A shadow on the wall inside the cave

What do I know?
Boredom and ecstasy
What can I say?
It’s a mystery to me

What do I know?
Boredom and ecstasy
What can I say?
It’s a mystery to me

First they appeal to our identity
And make the other a nonentity
Then you ignore their humanity
And get real angry like Sean Hannity

Where do you go if you got no home?
What do you do if you get real sick?
Which of these Christians watches out for you
When you’re a refugee?

What do I know?
Sorry, I disagree
What can I say?
It’s a mystery to me

What do I know?
People not property
What can I say?
It’s a mystery to me
a fuckin mystery