Song | Nightman |
Artist | Peter Hammill |
Album | Veracious |
Download | Image LRC TXT |
At the dead of night, I woke | |
with the sense that my dreams were escaping, | |
all uncannily unspoken | |
like words at the tip of a foreign tongue... | |
As for language, I have none | |
to express quite what strangeness overwhelms me: | |
something's changed and something tells me | |
to be still in the roar of the distant stars. | |
The night's full of fire, ice and water; | |
by day I'll have clay in my hands. | |
The book is open at a well-thumbed mark | |
the odds are stacked that I'm facing. | |
Eyes grown accustomed to light and dark | |
can't catch the shadows they're chasing. | |
Open, my heart, to the vital spark – | |
a disordered rhythm is racing, | |
it's a danse macabre I'm tracing. | |
As the fire feeds the flame, | |
as the tongue finds expression in its flickering, | |
does each breath inform a name | |
to be dispersed just as soon as it's exhaled? | |
Was it to myself I came | |
or to some other strange and parallel existence? | |
Will I ever see tomorrow, | |
to wake and begin it again? | |
Open, the book at a well-read page, | |
hope triumphs over expectation; | |
open, the secrets of seer and sage | |
in awe-inspired anticipation... | |
Open, my mind in the body's cage, | |
unchained in consecration; | |
open, my eyes, to the wider stage | |
the firestorm of liberation – | |
the night in conflagration. | |
With a shiver down my spine | |
I come back to the place where I started; | |
the sea of consciousness has parted | |
but stranded is all that I feel for sure. | |
As nightsight declines into darkness | |
by day there'll be clay in my hands. | |
I may feel the clay in my hands. |
At the dead of night, I woke | |
with the sense that my dreams were escaping, | |
all uncannily unspoken | |
like words at the tip of a foreign tongue... | |
As for language, I have none | |
to express quite what strangeness overwhelms me: | |
something' s changed and something tells me | |
to be still in the roar of the distant stars. | |
The night' s full of fire, ice and water | |
by day I' ll have clay in my hands. | |
The book is open at a wellthumbed mark | |
the odds are stacked that I' m facing. | |
Eyes grown accustomed to light and dark | |
can' t catch the shadows they' re chasing. | |
Open, my heart, to the vital spark | |
a disordered rhythm is racing, | |
it' s a danse macabre I' m tracing. | |
As the fire feeds the flame, | |
as the tongue finds expression in its flickering, | |
does each breath inform a name | |
to be dispersed just as soon as it' s exhaled? | |
Was it to myself I came | |
or to some other strange and parallel existence? | |
Will I ever see tomorrow, | |
to wake and begin it again? | |
Open, the book at a wellread page, | |
hope triumphs over expectation | |
open, the secrets of seer and sage | |
in aweinspired anticipation... | |
Open, my mind in the body' s cage, | |
unchained in consecration | |
open, my eyes, to the wider stage | |
the firestorm of liberation | |
the night in conflagration. | |
With a shiver down my spine | |
I come back to the place where I started | |
the sea of consciousness has parted | |
but stranded is all that I feel for sure. | |
As nightsight declines into darkness | |
by day there' ll be clay in my hands. | |
I may feel the clay in my hands. |
At the dead of night, I woke | |
with the sense that my dreams were escaping, | |
all uncannily unspoken | |
like words at the tip of a foreign tongue... | |
As for language, I have none | |
to express quite what strangeness overwhelms me: | |
something' s changed and something tells me | |
to be still in the roar of the distant stars. | |
The night' s full of fire, ice and water | |
by day I' ll have clay in my hands. | |
The book is open at a wellthumbed mark | |
the odds are stacked that I' m facing. | |
Eyes grown accustomed to light and dark | |
can' t catch the shadows they' re chasing. | |
Open, my heart, to the vital spark | |
a disordered rhythm is racing, | |
it' s a danse macabre I' m tracing. | |
As the fire feeds the flame, | |
as the tongue finds expression in its flickering, | |
does each breath inform a name | |
to be dispersed just as soon as it' s exhaled? | |
Was it to myself I came | |
or to some other strange and parallel existence? | |
Will I ever see tomorrow, | |
to wake and begin it again? | |
Open, the book at a wellread page, | |
hope triumphs over expectation | |
open, the secrets of seer and sage | |
in aweinspired anticipation... | |
Open, my mind in the body' s cage, | |
unchained in consecration | |
open, my eyes, to the wider stage | |
the firestorm of liberation | |
the night in conflagration. | |
With a shiver down my spine | |
I come back to the place where I started | |
the sea of consciousness has parted | |
but stranded is all that I feel for sure. | |
As nightsight declines into darkness | |
by day there' ll be clay in my hands. | |
I may feel the clay in my hands. |