Nobody's empire
Lying on my bed I was reading frenchWith the light too bright for my sensesFrom this hiding place, life was way too muchIt was loud and rough round the edgesSo I faced the wall when an old man calledOut of dreams that I would die thereBut a sight unseen, you were pulling stringsAnd you had a different idea
I was like a child, I was light as strawWhen my father lifted me up thereTook me to a place where they checked my bodyMy soul was floating in thin airI clung to the bed, and I clung to the pastAnd I clung to the welcome darknessBut at the end of the nightThere's a green green lightIt's the quiet before the madnessThere was a girl that sang like the chime of a bellShe put out her arm and she touched me when I was in hell, when I was i hell
Someone sang a song and I sang alongCause I knew the words from my childhoodIntellect, ambition they fell awayThey locked me up for my own goodBut I didn't mind cause the silence was kind
And you spoke to me in whispersThere was the sound of the wind in the cold cold dawnAnd the quiet hum of businessLet me dangle a while in this waiting roomI don't need to go I don't need to know what you're doing, what you're doing
Lying on my side you were half awake and your face was tired and crumpledIf I had a camera I'd snap you now cause there's beauty in every stumbleWe are out of practise we're out of sightOn the edge of nobody's empire
If we live by books and we live by hopeDoes that make us targets for gunfire?
Now I look at you you're a mother of twoYou're a quiet revolutionMarching with the crowd singing dirty and loudFor the people's emancipationDid I do ok, did I pave the wayWas I strong when you were wantingI was tied to the yoke with a decent blokeWho was stern but never dauntingAnd he told me to push and he made me feel wellAnd he told me to leave that vision of hell to the dying