Carnival - Natalie Merchant

I've walked these streets

A virtual stage

It seemed to me

Make up on their faces

Actors took their

Places next to me

I've walked these streets

In a carnival

Of sights to see

All the cheap thrill seekers

The vendors & the dealers

They crowded around me

Have I been blind

Have I been lost

Inside myself and

My own mind

Hypnotized

Mesmerized

By what my eyes have seen?

I've walked these streets

In a spectacle of wealth & poverty

In the diamond market

The scarlet welcome carpet

That they just rolled out for me

I've walked these streets

In the mad house asylum

They can be

Where a wild eyed misfit prophet

On a traffic island stopped

And he raved of saving me

Have I been blind

Have I been lost

Inside myself and

My own mind

Hypnotized

Mesmerized

By what my eyes have seen?

Have I been wrong

Have I been wise

To shut my eyes

And play along

Hypnotized

Paralyzed

By what my eyes have found

By what my eyes have seen

What they have seen?

Have I been blind

Have I been lost

Have I been wrong

Have I been wise

Have I been strong

Have I been

Hypnotized

Mesmerized

By what my eyes have found

In that great street carnival

In that carnival?