Ed was at the end of his rope, an expression he detested   "There is no rope", he would scream at the laughing walls   There is only the end, no hope, no rope   Ending is better than mending   Doors of perception, windows of opportunity   These are illusions like the killing floor      Ed spoke in a squeaky whiny voice   With perhaps a slight tinge of glee   But this was only because he couldn't be bothered   To try to develop a manner of speaking   That truly reflected his mood      This is a vaccum, there is no air in this room   Despair is no fun anymore   Nihilism knocked three times on the ceiling   But the rosy fingers of dawn always inserted themselves   In the nose of unfulfilled promises      Angels sang, "Heysanna, Hosanna"   Paralyzed prima-donnas danced in the streets all day   But when the darkness came, everybody went home   I was ready, everyone else was asleep      And while it might have been a relief to see   That I was right all along   Here I am still, alone and trapped   Awaiting the endless end      And I can turn it all around   And laugh at it and laugh at myself   I can laugh louder than the walls, the halls, the waterfalls   Louder than Charles De Gaul or Fulton Mall      But I don't know what I'm laughing at   I don't know just what I think is so goddamn funny   I don't know why I don't just shut up   And give up and lay down and die      "What do I have to complain about anyway?"   Ed asked his Picasso, "I'm a millionaire"   This wasn't actually true   Ed's Picasso was an obvious forgery      His three Rothkos had just been singled out   In an article in 'Art forum' entitled   'The Three Most Insignificant Paintings of Mark Rothko'   And his Barbara Krugers had been irreparably damaged   By Rein Sanction and a few other bands from Gainesville   That refused to acknowledge the value of art      "Come to think of it", Ed mused   To the laminated roadkill coffee table that he had purchased   When times had seemed slightly less bleak   "Come to think of it, not only does art have no intrinsic value   But my collection has no extrinsic value either"      "I know I'm not a millionaire   But that's no reason to complain   There is no reason to complain   There is no reason to do anything"      "I don't believe in reason, objective reality or collective farming   I don't believe in public speaking   Which is another reason why I'm here alone   I don't believe in life or death   I would kill myself but I don't believe in suicide"      Ed put on a red shirt and took a quick walk around the block   While whistling softly to himself   He reentered his apartment screaming   "There is no life on this planet"      "Jehovah One replaced all life with machinery five centuries ago   The so-called Industrial Revolution   Was just another hoax and we all fell for it   'Cause we were all programmed to, even I fell for it   I believe in the steam engine   Even though I don't believe in anything"      Logical inconsistency is the Mr. Bubble I bathe in   Each and every evening, except for yesterday evening   When I roller bladed over to the Masonic Temple   To play pinochle with Pope John Paul the First   I really had no choice in the matter"      Ed certainly could go on and on   And he did, and he would and he will   Until you or I or somebody does something about it   Senator Sterno of Louisiana   Announced over closed circuit television   And as long as he continues to pontificate pointlessly   I will do nothing      Ed walked away from the program feeling fortified and stapled   His brain was buzzing, the way it always did just after 'Jeopardy'   He loaded up the micro bus with atlases and poseidons   And headed for Pope County      "I've had it", he sang, "I've had it with puns, alliteration   Russian literature, Italian neorealism   Meaningless cross references and laundry lists of nonsense   I shall drive without a license, without clothing, without direction"      "And if I make it to Arkansas, fine   And if I'm running late, if I'm running a numbers game   It doesn't matter, I shall keep on running"      "Yes, this is the answer, this is the ending, I shall keep on running   Because a body in motion tends to stay emotional   And it's better to feel, pain is better than emptiness   Emptiness is better than nothing, and nothing is better than this"