1. THE VELVET INQUISITION

The snowflakes, in their millions, melt upon the lenses in the glow
Illuminated are their faces, and the faces that they show
They don't know weariness or death- they don't know anything at all
They're merely messages from both sides of your eyes

The shadows fall...

Who dare question their confessor?

And when you wonder why you never see the sun (cry to me)
And you discover when you turn around and run (who do you see?)
And when you find that I've been wasting all your time, you cry to me
And when you find that you must tear yourself away, what do you see?

And when your eyes are glazing over every day (cry to me)
And you decide you must escape and run away (who you see you?

A velvet inquisition for every volunteer
So the apostates disappear

The little worms are not to blame for the mementos that they save
The tyranny of their mutation in a medicated game

And when you find that you're the saddest one in love
And when you find that you are crying all the time

When you pray out loud, no one hears a sound
(you're in focus, dear)
(spiders in your tears)
Who will recall the endless watches of the night?
(clocks inside our ears)
(we've been here for years)


2. DEAD REVOLUTION

Drag me into your exhausted future- do I have a choice?
Your revolution has gone on so long, heed your master's voice

Never realize the tyranny is coming from the inside,
and an evil eye has opened in your own private sky

Born on the wrong side of the divide, million miles across
Are you still waiting for your invitation? (maybe it was lost)

And every teardrop falls like Moses coming down from the mountain
And an evil eye has opened in your own private sky

Lenses and mirrors, a looking-glass world shot from every side
The next contestant to try and survive- maze of your design

The better world you are trying to build is laughing in your face
The better world you are trying to build is on fire


3. SEA OF HEROES

Tasteless morsel, here's your verse
Sorcerer of a fleshless curse

Sea of heroes nods and waves
Grass for sacred cows to graze

Yes, even you must walk the path
Yes, even you

Petty lord in a formless void
Fuedal systems re-deployed
Your smile never reaches your eyes
Disguising where the future lies

Yes, even you, the golden calf
Yes, even you

And as I crawled from the chaos storm
seeking the light of the sun to warm
the frozen frame of my skeletal mind
I looked and looked until I was blind


4. THE PRECIPICE (WAITING FOR THE CRASH)

The fog is rolling in a gentle drift of grey
And to the left, the sunset golden crowns the day
The asphalt cooling down below the rusty wires
The trees are swaying to the sound of squealing tires

Four unmarked buses, like white horses in a line
A shining abattoir no vampire left behind

Another tragedy, it happens all the time
We should have seen the signs

Waiting for the crash

In fields of amaryllis, lenses tinted rosy red
Approach the precipice with your eyes fixed straight ahead
Then all you see is sky
To fall or fly is the same when you're so high

A sign of error, breathing air that's not your own
A shining corridor where all the birds have flown

A plague of luxury with nothing else to find
A place to sift through the debris of your decline
A dream is forming in a sad and twisted mind
They should have seen the signs


5. HERE COMES THE SKY

Here comes the sky, falling upon us
Something seems different this time
Here comes the tide- the water's on fire
Something seems different this time
Here comes the storm, goes on forever
Eight hundred miles, or more

The wind came down to the waves one day
as the sun looked scornfully on
"I humbly request that you be my guest in a dance"
said the wind on this morn
"Such would be grand, should we make for the land?"
roared the waves, to the sting of the breeze
"I'm feeling restless, the sun is relentless-
I'd fancy a turn if you please"

"The pleasure is mind", said the sky in reply,
"I confess to a sense of unease...
perhaps a diversion will soften the heart of the sun"'
said the sky to the seas

The sea reached out and the wind took a bow,
in the sun so uncommonly warm
So they did waltz in the spray and the salt
And together they danced up a storm

A furious child, feral and wild
the wind swept in through the door
All hope is drowned in a terrible sound
as the ocean leapt over the shore

Then they conspired to kindle a fire
and laughed as they howled at the moon
The flames and the sea rose up in the breeze
And agreed they'd meet again soon
Sun be damned, we'll dance upon land again soon


6. FLYING ALONE

A thousand needles of fire,
each pinprick the end of a dream
The cipher encrypted a key
to escape in a flying machine

The landing bay consumed in flames
The cipher didn't lie this time, the engines engaged
One less victim of this crime, it's time to leave

This disaster behind

A thousand ships are on fire in the sky,
above the inferno below
Are these the memories, the tears in my eyes,
or is it the smoke?

My velox flies, my knuckles white upon the controls
The city ends as I ascend to stations unknown
Flying faster, I take one last look back
I'll never see this place again

And no one will know, I'm flying alone
The city's destroyed, why say goodbye?
The faster I fly into the void

This fate belongs to no one else
So don't pretend that you know how it ends


7. DAYS OF '49

Old Tom Moore, from the bummer's shore in the good old golden days
They call me a bummer and a ginsot too, but what cares I for praise?
I rove around from town to town, folks call me a roving sign
"Yes, just Old Tom Moore, he's a bummer sure, from the days of '49"

My comrades they all loved me well, a jolly saucy crew
A few hard cases I will recall, though they all were brave and true
What'ere the pitch, they never would flinch, they never would fret nor whine
Like good old bricks, they stood the kicks in the days of '49

In the days of old, in the days of gold
How oft'times I repine for the days of old
When we dug up the gold, in the days of '49

There was New York Jake, the butcher boy, he was always getting tight
And every time that he'd get full, he was spoiling for a fight
But Jake rampaged against a knife in the hands of old Tom Clay
And over Jake they held a wake in the days of '49

There was Nantucket Bill, I knew him well, he was always fond of tricks
At a poker game, he was always there, and ready with his bricks
He would ante up and draw his cards, and he would you go a hatful blind
In the game with death, he lost his breath, in the days of '49

There was Ragshag Bill from Buffalo, I never will forget
He would roar all day and roar all night, and I guess he's roaring yet
One day he fell in a prospect hole of a roaring bad design
And in that hole he roared out his soul, in the days of '49

Of the all friends that I had then, there's no one left to toast
And I'm left alone in my misery like some poor wandering ghost
I just rove around from town to town, folks call me a roving sign
"Yes, just Old Tom Moore, he's a bummer sure, from the days of '49"