[Verse 1] Knock knock knock, the sound won't quit, The Porter's skull is splitting from last night's drink, He staggers up still buttoning his shirt, Playing gatekeeper for hell, just for a wink. "Who's there, i' th' name of Belzebub?" he calls, Imagining the devil's got a waiting line, A farmer hanged himself on empty harvest hopes, A tailor skimped the cloth on fancy breeches. [Chorus] Knocking at the gate, knock knock knock, Comedy before the whole world stops, Laugh while you can, the Porter's having fun, 'Cause upstairs in the dark, the deed is done. [Verse 2] Here comes an equivocator, step on through, A fellow who can swear that false rings true, He'd lie beneath an oath and sleep just fine, London's wink toward the gunpowder crime. Marry, says the Porter, simply means "indeed," Anon means "coming now," so don't you stall, And if the devil's hunting, you'll need To fold yourself inside an auger hole. Macduff and Lennox finally step inside, Cold morning fog still clinging to their coats. [Verse 3] Macduff climbs up to rouse the sleeping king, Comes back down unable to sing, "O horror, horror, horror!" rings out thrice, No single word can hold a crime this size. "Confusion now hath made his masterpiece," The temple's broken, breath has left the frame, Nightgowns flood the hallway, bells won't cease, Everyone goes tumbling toward the blame. [Verse 4] Macbeth bursts in, his blade still painted red, Two grooms lie slaughtered, conveniently dead, "My love for Duncan drove my hand," he swears, Fury as his alibi, grief as disguise. Lady Macbeth crumples toward the floor, Fainting — or performing — before them all, While daggers left beside a drunken guard Tell quite another story than his own. [Verse 5] The castle fills with voices, wild and loud, Banquo stands in silence, reading the crowd, He saw the witches too, he knows the shape Of prophecy twisting into a hand that kills, But speaks no word, just watches, waits, and wonders How quickly loyalty can turn to theater, How quickly grief can wear ambition's face, And who among them next will fall from grace. [Bridge] Malcolm slips toward England, hushed and fast, Donalbain picks Ireland, breaking from the past, "There's daggers in men's smiles," the young prince warns, Trust nobody wearing a mourning face — Better a stranger's coast than a kinsman's blade. [Outro] The Porter's joke left the door swung wide For jokes and bloodshed to share one roof, Knock knock knock, carry this with you — The funniest scene can hide the darkest proof. [Outro II] So mind the gatekeeper, mind his drunken song, The gate that lets in laughter lets in wrong, Knock knock knock, the echo never dies, Beneath the comedy, a kingdom lies.
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