My Brother Esau - Grateful Dead, Mickey Hart, Jerry Garcia

My brother Esau killed a hunter

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

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 shadow dance the silent war within

The shadow dance, it never ends

Never ends, never ends

Shadowboxing the Apocalypse, yet again

Yet again

Shadowboxing the Apocalypse

And wandering the land