Spent Gladiator 2

Like a spent gladiator

Crawling in the Colosseum dust

Who can count on his remaining limbs

All the people he can trust

Like the one who stands behind him

Cheering him on

Ecstatic when he stands defiant

Wild with abandon when he's gone

Just stay alive

Keep your eyes on the pay line

Like a village on the steppe

About to get collectivized

When the men emerge with rifles from the haystack

Everybody looks surprised

Like the mice in the forgotten grain

Way up on the top shelf

Like someone who's found a small town to escape to

Keeps one eye on his abandoned, former self

Stay in the game

Just try to play through the pain

Like a fighter who's been told it's finally time for him to quit

Show up in shining colors

And then stand there and get hit

Like the clock that ticks in Dresden

When the whole town's been destroyed

Like the nagging flash of insight

You're always desperate to avoid

Like the bloody-knuckled gunman

Still stationed at the breach

Like that board game with the sliders

And the children on the beach

Stay alive

Maybe spit some blood at the camera

Just stay alive

Stay forever alive