Confidence Man

Who in a time of uncertainty captures your heart?
Who in a room of straight walls and sharp corners
Will help paint a window and then praise your art?
Who speaks of honor and right indignation,
And who wipes your tears with his hand?
Watch yourself skip down that path lined with primroses:
Follow the Confidence Man.

Confidence man says, "I'll show you the pathway,"
Confidence man says, "Trust me with your heart."
Confidence man drinks your trouble like water
Confidence man breaks your balance apart.

Where is your judgment when false opportunity knocks?
Where in the maze of your dreams and realities
Will you find gold inside plain granite rocks?
Where are the love mines, the forests of feelings,
And where is the edge of the land?
Hear that soft jingling of coins in his pocket:
The wealth of the Confidence Man.

Confidence man laughs at others' misfortunes
Confidence man swears, "I don't laugh at you."
Confidence man turns your trust into tatters, and
Confidence man tells you fiction is true.

Bridge:
All that he asks is the key to your dreams
All that he shows you is not what it seems
All of reality blurs round his seams
All his opinions come down to extremes

Confidence man calls your virtue to question
Confidence man offers perjured embraces
Confidence man poisons dreams with his fingertips
Confidence man is a fiend with two faces.

Why all the world-weary stories that never have ends?
Why do they all come to one pat conclusion
Where subjective smoke is the fact he defends?
Why all the platitudes, glib explanations,
And why do his words never stand?
All fabrication above desperation:
A day in the life of the Confidence Man

Confidence man buffs the knowledge patina
Confidence man knows just where he belongs
Confidence man trades your treasures for ashes
Confidence man sells your secrets for songs

Notes: Anyone can be taken in by a Confidence Man. No one who trusts is immune. Given the choice, I'll take the risk, every time.

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