ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
words and music (c) 1993 Nancy Ellen Abrams

Faustus was a scholar
But knowledge was not all he sought
Desire to do magic obsessed him
Inhuman powers filled his thoughts
One night the devil made an offer:
"Power beyond your wildest dreams!
I only want that soul you don't believe in
We will make a dazzling team"

Out of nowhere flew a good angel
Bearing a message we presume was from on high:
"Faustus, it is NEVER too late to repent!"
The angel said, but the angel lied

All's well that ends well
We hope life works that way
All's well that ends well
let’s take the chance for just another day

Have we sold our souls for technology?
The earth is warming; toxic disasters mount
We have power beyond our wildest dreams
But the future's on sale at discount
We play devil to the Third World
Buying their souls with high-tech weapons and TV
We’re like an addict who knows his habit’s lethal:
"Just this once, then I'll quit!" he dreams

All's well that ends well
We hope life works that way
All's well that ends well
Let’s take the chance for just another day

What if the good angel had told the truth?
"Faustus, no one can foretell
How long the window of repentance
may be open as your escape from hell
It could be a decade or an hour.
You take the big chance when you hesitate
A comedy of errors can undo you.
Entropy laughs, and it's too late"

All's well that ends well
that's what we like to forecast
But "all's well that ends well"
Can only be said about the past

Faustus was a scholar,
But knowledge was not all he sought
Desire to do magic obsessed him.
Inhuman powers filled his thoughts
One night the devil made an offer:
"Power beyond your wildest dreams!
I only want that soul you don't believe in
We are a dazzling team!"

Out of nowhere flies a good angel
With a message this time better thought through:
"RIGHT NOW it is still possible to change your ways
To let the planet sing through you

All's well that ends well"
Sometimes life works that way
All's well that ends well
What satisfaction it would be to say