Rattlesnakes

“Rattlesnakes” song notes

“Rattlesnakes” is the final action chapter/sequence in the story, and was part of the original Gunslinger trilogy. Even if one seeks and makes confession, wanting, possibly expecting forgiveness, and that their life could embark on a new path, there may still be punishment and consequence for crime and wrongdoing. One can also ponder whether this is karma, an “eye for an eye” ideology, or it just may be that life events happen randomly. We often wish to ascribe meaning to events, but at times, there is no deeper meaning or explanation, just the randomness and entropy of the universe and our existence. And so snakes, as metaphor for disaster events, happen, and do happen randomly, and we have little control over their occurrence.

“RATTLESNAKES”
(Chapter 5)

TWO RATTLESNAKES AT THE DOOR,

THEY SLITHERED IN, PREDATORS,

TWO BROTHERS LAY THERE, SLEPT AND SNORED,

NATURE’S WAYS, SO PURE

THE SNAKES, BIT THEM ON THE LEGS,

VENOM RUSHED, THROUGH THEIR VEINS,

ONE BROTHER TREMBLED, THE OTHER MOVED NO MORE,

NATURE’S WAYS, SO PURE,

TWO SNAKES, ON THE DESERT FLOOR,

THUNDERSTORMS, THE RAIN BEGAN TO POUR DOWN,

MUDSLIDES, AND FLASH FLOODS GREW,

NATURE’S WAYS, SO PURE,

A LARGE BOULDER ON THE HILL,

NEVER MOVING, UNTIL,

IT STARTED ROLLING, ITS PATH SEEMED OBSCURE,

NATURE’S WAYS, SO PURE