When you are dying of cancer

It's too late to quit smoking;

Why buy an umbrella

When you're already soaking?

When you've given the crowds bread and circuses for years

If you suddenly stop the giving there will be tears…

You'll be very lucky if you live -

That's one lesson from Western Civ.

If you're sickened by the aristocracy -

It's evident and cruel hypocrisy -

Don't forget, it’s safer to be a snob…

The purest form of democracy

Is a mob

When the crowds are storming the Bastille

Don't bother to ask how they feel

Better to quietly leave town,

Cause the status quo is tumbling down

You'll be very lucky if you live -

That's one lesson from Western Civ.