I am just as good as you.
Even commie scum have their pride,
And being just as good as you
Is how—completely naked—they hide.
You have other things to consider,
Your complex relationship is difficult
To summarize. You know you love her.
Seeds are lost. Houses crumble. Flowers wilt.
You love the rare, and the few—
But he has one broad agenda: to be just as good as you.
Not like you, but as good as you,
And that’s where the pride comes in,
The cunning. The emotion. The sin.
He will put communism in the church.
He will drag the shah from his perch.
He will leave modernizing allies in the lurch.
He will go to great lengths to be equal.
If he loses, there will always be a sequel.
He uses all space and time
To do something about your rhyme.
He will hire critics to say your style
Is antiquated. If you laugh, he will smile,
If you smile, he will laugh. He’ll go down
To the depths of hell,
To the Strait of Hormuz, and almost drown,
Or pretend to drown, and people will say
He loved the people. He has your face.
There’s just a little bit more disgrace.
There’s not as much history today.
People hate, but they want to be good, too.
That’s all he wants, you know.
Right now, that’s all he wants.
To be just as good as you.