Grateful Dead - My Brother Esau lyrics

Back in 1969

And before the killing was done,

His inheritance was mine.

But his birthright was a wand to wave

Before a weary band.

Esau gave me sleeplessness

And a piece of moral land.

My father favored Esau,

Who was eager to obey

All the bloody wild commandments

The Old Man shot his way.

But all this favor ended

When my brother failed at war.

He staggered home

And found me in the door.

[Chorus:]

Esau skates on mirrors anymore...

He meets his pale reflection at the door.

Yet sometimes at night I dream

He's still that hairy man,

Shadowboxing the Apocalypse

And wandering the land.

Shadowboxing the Apocalypse

And wandering the land.

Esau holds a blessing;

Brother Esau bears a curse.

I would say that the blame is mine

But I suspect it's something worse.

The more my brother looks like me,

The less I understand

The silent war that bloodied both our hands.

Sometimes at night, I think I understand.

It's brother to brother and it's man to man

And it's face to face and it's hand to hand...

We shadowdance the silent war within.

The shadowdance, it never ends...

Never ends, never ends.

Shadowboxing the Apocalypse, yet again...

Yet again.

Shadowboxing the Apocalypse,

And wandering the land