A deadly danger threatens the
community we love.
So we will raise our eyes and seek
some solace from above.
It's not an armed attack
or an Al Queda machination,
but artist Chavez Pavon who seeks
to cause our ruination.

What will he do, throw dynamite,
put poison in our beer?
Will he blow up our city hall,
is that what we must fear?
But that's not it, he will not kill,
he will not strike us dead.
The danger's that through art he might
put ideas in our head.

But our nation's wisest bureaucrats
in their wisdom infinite.
Denied the proper visa
so this art Chavez must quit.
He went to Venezuela,
that's a place from which we shrink.
But even worse, this guy makes art
that just might make us think.

"If I should gaze upon it,
oh my gosh I might be learnin'!
Oh, Lord, what pains shoot through my head,
I think my eyes is burnin'!
Those new ideas they swarm about,
just like those killer bees!
My skull it just exploded
and my brains festoon the trees!"

Some cry "But he is foreign, no,
we do not want him here!"
But I can't help but wonder
what it is we have to fear.
Some say let's keep it local,
let a neighbor get the bucks.
That might be wise, let us decide,
not bureaucratic schmucks.

If he does come to put his art
on that our local wall,
we would become quite famous
and well known by one and all
as a place that values art,
a beacon for our state,
and not just some ignorami
with fried possom on our plate.

He is a man who's known as a
great muralist supreme.
He takes a common wall and makes
a great breathaking scene.
He covers it with colors
and with shapes that please the eye.
His art can make a sad man laugh
or joyous people cry.

Alamance, it is our place
we don't need the protection
of bureaucrats who don't know art
and revel in rejection.
Just because we're in the South
its not as some folks tell it,
that our idea of wondrous art
is Elvis on black velvet.

So, Joe McCarthy, go away
your ghost we need not here.
For this renowned great muralist
we know we need not fear.
Alamance, it is our place,
we can decide what's best.
(But, Chavez, if you draw some chick
please cover up the breasts).

This artist was contracted to come to my town of Burlington to create a mural at the YMCA.
However, the State Department refused to issue him a visa because he has traveled to Venezuela.