(UNRELEASED)

animal
words and music by ani difranco © 2003 righteous babe music / BMI

more and more there is this animal 
looking out through my eyes 
of all the traffic on the road to nowhere 
and all the shiny stuff around to buy 
and all the wires in the air 
and all the people shopping for the same blank stare 
and america the drastic 
isolated geographic 
that's become infested 
with millionaires 

and i think when you grow up surrounded 
by willful ignorance 
you have to believe that mercy has it's own country 
and it's round and borderless 
then you have to grow wings 
and rise above it all 
up there 
where that hawk is circling 
above that strip mall 

more and more there is this animal 
looking out through my eyes 
seeing that animals 
only take from this world 
what they need to survive 
she is prowling through all the religions of men 
seeing that time and time and time again 
their gods that made them special and above 
nature's law and the respect there of 

and i think
when you grow up surrounded 
by willful ignorance 
you have to believe that mercy has it's own country 
and it's round and borderless 
then you have to grow wings 
and rise above it all 
up there 
where that hawk is circling 
above that strip mall 

ask any 
eco-system 
harm here is harm there and there and there 
aggression begets aggression 
it's a very simple lesson 
that long proceeded 
the king of heaven 
and there's this brutal imperial power 
that now my passport says i represent 
but it will never represent where my heart lives
only vaugely where it went 

i know when you grow up surrounded 
by willful ignorance 
you'll learn that mercy has it's own country 
and that it's round and borderless 
then you just grow wings 
and rise above it all 
up there 
where that hawk is circling 
above that strip mall