All Lyrics by Peter Hammill 

Afterwards

(Hammill)

You stare out in yellow eyes larger than my mind;
in viscous pools of joy, relaxing, we glide...
it's all too beautiful
for my mind to bear
and, as we shimmer into sleep, something's unshared.

But, seeing the flower that was there yesterday,
a tear forms just behind the soft peace of your shades....
The world's too lonely
for a message to slip
but between the dying rails of peace
you trip.

The petals that were blooming are just paper in your hand;
your eyes, which were clear in the night, are opaque as you stand.
It was too beautiful 
for it to last...
these visions shimmer and fade out of
the glass.

The petals that were blooming are just paper in your hand.

The Boat Of Millions Of years

(Hammill)

Horus, the son of Isis, lay in the marshes of Buto,
poisoned by Set.
She called out to the High God Ra
to kill this evil, that her child may live yet.
Casting aside her present fears
she called out on the Boat of Millions of years...
Ra came and saw
and stopped the sun until he had cured
the life of the innocent.

Horus the Good lived in the North,
in lands of fertility and beauty
but Set stayed in the hard desert,
to him belonged all drought and perversity.
While he sheds his tears
beneath the Boat of Millions of years
he fights to kill the hawk,
bearing with him evil and darkness.
But Horus lives with the sun.

Forever the battle rages,
evil tries to kill the innocent baby
and only Osiris, the Lord of the Dead,
can eventually save it.
So we must cast aside our future fears
and call out on the Boat of Millions of years.
The God of Love is on our side
and with him we shall not die...
there's life in the Sun!
There's life in the Sun!
Only in violence is the cause lost:
in peace, grey Set can't kill our baby of love.

Whatever Would Robert Have Said ?

(Hammill)

I am the suck of air you take
that you've had many times before;
I am the blow you try to fake,
but which still throws you out the door;
I am the air that fills your lungs,
but leaves you emptier below;
I am the void that you can't explain,
but which is where you want to go.

Flame sucks between the balls of steel;
nothing moves, the air itself congeals.
Look at the flame if you want to,
hear the sharp crack of the fission,
smell the brief vapour of ozone,
feel static motion.

I am the love you try to hide,
but which all can understand;
I am the hate you still deny,
though the blood is on your hands;
I am the peace you're searching for,
but you know you'll never find;
I am the pain you can't endure,
but which tingles in your mind.

Flame sucks between the balls of steel;
nothing moves, the air itself congeals.
Look at the flame if you want to,
hear the sharp crack of the fission,
smell the brief vapour of ozone,
feel static motion.

I am the joy you really pay for,
but which comes completely free;
I am your god on the final day,
for the truth is you and me...

Lost

(Hammill)

Dance In Sand And Sea

So here we are, or rather, here I am, quite alone,
I'm seeing things that were shared before, long ago ...
my memory stretches and I am dazed: you know I know
how good the time was and how I laughed ..
Times have changed, now you're far away, I can't complain:
I had all my chances but they slipped right through my hands-
like so much sand;
I know I'll never dance like I used to

I'll just wait till day breaks upon the land and the sea.
hoping that I can catch all of the memories,
then I must crawl off upon my way, all of me
listening hard for the final words.
But there are none; the sunrise calls, I've lingered on
too close for comfort and I don't know quite why
I feel like crying -
I know we'll never dance like we used to.

I look up, I'm almost blinded by the warmth of what's inside me
and the taste that's in my soul,
but I'm dead inside as I stand alone ....

Dance In Frost

I wore my moods like so many different sets of clothes
but the right one was never around;
and as you left I heard my body ring
and my mind began to howl
It was far to late to contemplate the meaning of it all:
You know that I need you, but somehow I don't think you see my love
at all

At some point I lost you, I don't know quite how it was;
The wonderland lay in a coat of white, chilling frost
I looked around and I found I was truly lost:
without your hand in mine I am dead .....
Reality is unreal and games I've tried just aren't the same:
without your smile there's nowhere to hide
and deep inside
I know I've never cried as I'm about to ...


If I could just frame the words that would make your fire burn
all this water now around me could be the love that
should surround me.

Looking out through the tears that bind me
my heart bleeds that you may find me .. or at least that I can
forget and be numb, but I can't stop, the words still come:
I LOVE YOU

Necromancer

(Hammill)

Yes I live in the black woods, where you dare not even
speak my name.
If there is evil in your heart and you will come near to me you will
lose your sane.
My form is mystic, but my heart is pure,
you'd better believe what I say:
I am the Necromancer.

I cast deep spells and potent: I am a Seer
of the Real.
My forces work against evil, for I love
all I feel.
I know the secrets long forgotten,
you'd better believe in me:
I am the Necromancer.

Look into my eyes!
I tell you, occults power lies in love.
I fight against darkness, the power
of the Black.

Every day the power is greater, and soon the world will
come to rights.
Through the magic, through the power, shaman shall die
on the seventh night.
And now remember magic is here;
you'd better believe in the White.

I am the Necromancer,
and I come to carry your heart away to good.

Refugees

(Hammill)

North was somewhere years ago and cold:
Ice locked the people's hearts and made them old.
South was birth to pleasant lands, but dry:
I walked the waters' depths and played my mind.
East was dawn, coming alive in the golden sun:
the winds came, gently, several heads became one
in the summertime, though august people sneered;
we were at peace, and we cheered.

We walked alone, sometimes hand in hand,
between the thin lines marking sea and sand;
smiling very peacefully,
we began to notice that we could be free,
and we moved together to the West.

West is where all days will someday end;
where the colours turn from grey to gold,
and you can be with the friends.
And light flakes the golden clouds above all;
West is Mike and Susie,
West is where I love.

There we shall spend our final days of our lives;
tell the same old stories: yeah well, at least we tried.
Into the West, smiles on our faces, we'll go;
oh, yes, and our apologies to those
who'll never really know the way.

We're refugees, walking away from the life
that we've known and loved;
nothing to do or say, nowhere to stay; now we are alone.
We're refugees, carrying all we own
in brown bags, tied up with string;
nothing to think, it doesn't mean a thing,
but we'll be happy on our own.
West is Mike and Susie;
West is where I love,
West is refugees' home.

Darkness

(Hammill)

Day dawns dark, it now numbers infinity.
Life crawls from the past, watching in wonder
I trace its patterns in me.
Tomorrow's tomorrow is birth again.
Boats burn the bridge in the fens;
the time of the past returns to my life
and uses it.

Don't blame me for the letters that may form in the sand;
don't look in my eyes, you may see all the numbers
that stretch in my sky and colour my hand.
Don't say that I'm wrong in imagining
that the voice of my life cannot sing.
Fate enters and talks in old words:
They amuse it.

The hands shine darkly and white: only in dark they appear.
Bless the baby born today,
flying in pitch, flying on fear.

They shine in my eyes and touch my face
where I have seen them placed before;
don't blame me, please, for the fate that falls:
I did not choose it.
I did not, no no, I did not
I truly did not choose it.

Killer

(Hammill - Banton - Smith)

So you live in the bottom of the sea,
and you kill all that come near you ....
but you are very lonely, because all the other fish
fear you .....
And you crave companionship and someone to call your own;
because for the whole of your life you've been living alone.

On a black day in black month
at the black bottom of the sea,
Your mother gave birth to you and died
immediately ....
'Cos you can't have two killers living in the same pad
and when your mother knew that her time had come
she was really rather glad.

Death in the sea, death in the sea,
somebody please come and help me, come and help me
Fishes can't fly, fishes can't fly,
Fishes can't and neither can I, neither can I ....

Now I'm really rather like you,
for I've killed all the love I ever had
by not doing all I ought to and by leaving my mind coming
bad.
And I too am a killer, for emotion runs as deep as flesh
and I too am so lonely, and I wish that I could forget
We need love,
We need love,
We need love ..........