Hello drunkness, my old friend
I've come to sit with you again
Because a tremor softly creeping
Made me sweat while I was sleeping
And the nightmares that were planted in my brain
Still remain
Within the haze of drunkness
 
In awful dreams I walked in shame
Along the streets from whence I came
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my sides were stabbed by the pangs of the shakes, so sure
I need the cure
And found the haze of drunkness
 
And in the blurry light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the haze of drunkness
 
"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Drinking like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the haze of drunkness
 
And the people bowed and prayed
To the liquor god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the victims are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And mumbled in the haze of drunkness