Lyrics:

He passed us as we laughed
The stranger talking of our memories
We drank a while, and didn't even see him
The conversation drifted on
To he who was to die next morning
Leave his mark on life to be forgotten
And as we talked he watched and listened
To the words that poured out hated
From the garbage of our bellies so long hidden
We curst and swore & damned
The very body that gave breath
To such a man who's very name we could not utter

And the stranger came and joined us
He sat dawn at our table
Wished us all good evening, and he smiled
He joked and sang us songs
Of life and love and even dying
And no shadow passed before us all the while
We talked long through the midnight
And then far into the morning
Till the light crept through the shutter casting shadows
Till once again the conversation turned
To he who was to die
And every decent soul might sleep in peace again

The stranger smiled a little sadly
And said not to judge our knowing
That a story told too often, is told too well
That situations make a man
And not man a situation
And we nodded though we couldn't understand
Then he wished us all good luck
And he stepped out in the morning
Where the mist was slowly laughing at the dawn
And we called him by the name of friend
And said we see him soon again
To talk of all the things we haven't said

The drinks were gone, bottles blown
The money we once had was gone
So laughing we all stumbled to the hanging
But the laughter turned to ashes
When we looked beyond the hangman
For the face upon the scaffold was the stranger's