Warren Zevon - Running Through / Chinese Poem Song lyrics

O I today Sad as Chu Yuan Stumbled to the store In broiling Florida October Morning heat cursing For my wine, sweating Like rain, & came to my chair Weak & trembling Wondering if I'm crazy at last - O Chu Yuan! No! No suicide! Wine please wine! What shall we all do All knowing we're dying Without wine to guide us To winking at d**h & life too -- My heart belongs To Chinese poets & their scrolls We can't just die --Men need wine & poetry At least O Mao, poet Mao Not Boss Mao Here in America Wine is laughed at & poetry a joke --d**h's a grim reminder To everybody already dead Crashing in cars all around here- Here men & women dryly scowl At poets' sad attempts To make our lot Lesser- I, a poet, suffer Even for bugs I find upsidedown Dying in the gra**- So I drink wine Alone- I shudder to think How dead The astronauts Are Going to a dead Moon Of no wine All our best men Are laughed at In this nightmare land But the newspapers preen In virtue-Throughout The world the left & right The east & west, are both vicious- The happy old winebibber is gone- I want him to reappear- For Modern China preens In virtue too For no better reason Than America- Nobody has respect for the cat Asleep, and I am hopelessly Inadequate in this poem -Nobody has respect For the self centered Irresponsible wine invalid -Everybody wants to be strapped In a hopeless space suit Where they can't move -I urge you, China Go back To Li Po & Tao Yuan Ming What am I talking about? I don't know I'm sick today- I didn't sleep all night Walked stumbling in the field To get wine, now I'm drinking it I feel better and worse- I have something to say to Mao & the poets of China That won't come out- It's all about how America Ignored poetry & wine & so does China & I'm a fool Without a river & a boat & a flower suit- Without a wineshop at dawn -Without self respect- - -Without the truth- But I'm a better man Than all of you- That's what I Wanted to say