I saw within the shadows of the porcelain parabola
The sweetly contoured edges of the ancient Virgin Mary
Was I wrong to hang it up here, was I wrong to let them see?
This work had always been here, we were given it for free

By the by, we’re wholly original
By the by, the whole world is beautiful
By the by, your history’s invincible
By the by, we’ll break out of these cubicles

By the by, we’re all indestructible
By the by, paint flowers or a bicycle
By the by, our minds are like a crucible
By the by, we’ll never be unusable

Within the wires of a leg of one vehicle
In my mind I could feel movement in its unrelenting stasis
Was I wrong to hang it up here, was I wrong to let them see?
This work had always been here, we were given it for free

By the by, we’re wholly original
By the by, the whole world is beautiful
By the by, your history’s invincible
By the by, we’ll break out of these cubicles

By the by, we’re all indestructible
By the by, paint flowers or a bicycle
By the by, our minds are like a crucible
By the by, we’ll never be unusable