A Louse Is Not A Home
Peter Hammill

Sometimes it's very scary here; sometimes it's very sad;

sometimes I think I'll disappear; betimes I think I have.

There's a line snaking down my mirror :

splintered glass distorts my face,

and though the light is strong and strange

it can't illuminate the musty corners of this place.

There is a lofty, lonely, Lohengrenic castle in the clouds --

I draw my murky meanings there,

but seven years' dark luck is just around the corner

and in the shadows lurks the spectre of Despair.

A cracked mirror mid the drapes of the landing :

split image, labored understanding ----

I'm only trying to find a place to hide my home ....

I've lived in houses composed of glass

where every movement is charted,

but now the monitor screens are dark

and I can't tell if silent eyes are there.

My words are spiders upon the page,

they spin out faith, hope and reason ----

but are they meet and just, or only dust

gathering about my chair?

Sometimes I get the feeling that there's

someone else there :

The faceless watcher makes me uneasy,

I can feel him through the floorboards,

and His presence is creepy ----

He informs me that I shall be expelled ....

What is that but out of and into :

I don't know the nature of the door that I'd go through,

I don't know the nature of the nature

that I am inside ....

I've lived in houses of brick and lead

where all emotion is sacred,

and if you want to devour the fruit

you must first sniff at the fragrance

and lay your body before the shrine

with poems and posies and papers ----

or, if you catch the ruse, you'll have to choose

to stay, a monk, or leave, a vagrant.

What is this place you call home?

Is it a sermon or a confession?

Is it the chalice that you use for protection?

Is it really only somewhere you can stay?

Is it a rule-book or a lecture?

Is it a beating at the hands of your Protector?

Does the idol have feet of clay?

Home is what you make it, so my friends

all say,

but I rarely see their homes in these dark days.

Some of them are snails and carry houses

on their backs;

others live in monuments which, one day,

will be racks --

I keep my home in place with sellotape

and tin-tacks,

but I still feel there's some other Force here :

He who cracks the mirrors and moves the walls

keeps staring through the eye-slits of the portraits

in my hall;

He ravages my library and taps the telephone --

I've never actually seen Him,

but I know He's in my home

and if he goes away,

I can't stay here either.

I believe -- er -- I think --

well, I don't know ......

I only live in one room at a time,

but all of the walls are ears, all the windows, eyes :

Everything else is foreign,

'Home' is my wordless chant :

mmmmmaah!

Give it a chance!

I am surrounded by flesh and bone,

I am a temple of living,

I am a hermit, I am a drone,

and I am boning out a place to be.

With secret garlands about my head

unearthly silence is broken :

the room is growing dark, and in the stark light

I can see a face I know ----

could this be the guy who never shows

the cracked mirror what he's feeling,

merely mumbles prayers to the ground where

he's kneeling :

Home is home is home is home is home is home is me!

All you people looking for your houses,

don't throw your weight around, you might

break your glasses

and if you do, you know you just can't see

and then how are you to find the dawning

of the day?

--- Day is just a word I use to keep the dark

at bay,

and people are imaginary, nothing else exists

except the room I'm sitting in,

and, of course, the all-pervading mist ---

sometimes I wonder if even that's real ....

Maybe I should de-louse this place;

Maybe I should de-place this louse;

Maybe I'll maybe my life away

in the confines of this silent house.

Sometimes it's very scary here; sometimes it's very sad;

sometimes I think I'll disappear; sometimes I think .....


  Purchase "A Louse Is Not A Home"   Purchase Entire Album   Email Video to Friends   Play Youtube "A Louse Is Not A Home" Video   Play Spotify "A Louse Is Not A Home" Song   View Wikipedia "A Louse Is Not A Home" Entry   Receive Emails for Future Peter Hammill Lyrics

Email:

  Link to "A Louse Is Not A Home"   Share on Facebook, Twitter, and more
  See Recommended Lyrics For You

Loading...

Lyrics by Peter Hammill

  (In The) Black Room   (No More) The Sub Mariner   (On Tuesdays She Used To Do) Yoga   A Way Out   Accidents   Act Five   Act One   Act Six   Again   Again   Airport   Autumn   Autumn [*]   Been Alone So Long   Been Alone So Long   Betrayed   Birds   Birthday Special   Breakthrough   Candle   Central Hotel   Child   Crying Wolf   Curtains   Description   Dont Tell Me   Down in the Sewer   Dropping The Torch   Easy to Slip Away   Empress's Clothes   Faculty X   Faint-Heart and the Sermon   Ferret and Featherbird   Flight   Fogwalking   Forsaken Gardens   Four Pails   Future Now   Gaia   German Overalls   Glue   Golden Promises   Green Fingers   Handicap And Equality   Happy   Happy [#][*]   Happy Hour   Hesitation   His Best Girl   I Once Wrote Some Poems   I Will Find You   I Will Find You   Imperial Walls   Imperial Zeppelin   Imperial Zeppelin (chris Judge Smith)   In Slow Time   In The End   Institute of Mental Health, Burning   Jargon King   Just Good Friends   Labour Of Love   Losing Faith in Words   Lost And Found   Man-Erg   Modern   My Experience   My Favourite   No Moon In The Water   Nobody's Business   Not For Keith   Not The Man   Oasis   Ophelia   Ophelia   Paradox Drive   Patient   People You Were Going To   Pompeii   Porton Down   Re-Awakening   Re-Awakening [#][*]   Red Shift   Red Shift [BBC Radio One John Peel Session][*]   Rubicon   Rubicon [BBC Radio One John Peel Session][*]   Seven Wonders (Bonus Track)   She Wraps It Up   Shingle Song   Sign   Sitting Targets   Slender Threads   Solitude   Something About Ysabel's Dance   Spirit   Still Life   Stranger Still   Summer Song (In the Autumn)   Sunshine   Sunshine [#][*]   Tapeworm   The Birds   The Birds [#][*]   The Comet, The Course, The Tail   The Future Now   The Institute of Mental Health, Burning   The Jargon King   The Lie (bernini's St Theresa)   The Old School Tie   The Spirit   The Unconscious Life   This Side Of The Looking Glass   Time For A Change (chris Judge Smith)   Time Heals   Time to Burn [Instrumental]   Traintime   Two Or Three Spectres   Viking   Vision   What I Did   What's It Worth   Wilhelmina

Related Songs

  The Crab Louse - Lords Of Acid  Gbo Mata [Station] - Zap Mama  Gbo Mata [Station) - Zap Mama  Beautiful - A is A  Luces - A Is A  Angel Of Mine - A Is A  A Horse Is Not a Home - Miike Snow  A House Is Not a Home - Rob McConnell  A House Is Not a Home - Dakota Staton  A House Is Not a Home - Dionne Warwick  A House Is Not a Home - Mavis Staples  A House Is Not a Home - Della Reese  A House Is Not a Home - Mel Tormé  A House Is Not a Home - Ella Fitzgerald  A House Is Not a Home - The Charlatans UK  A House Is Not a Home - Shirley Bassey  A House Is Not a Home - Michael Ball  A House Is Not a Home - Cher  A House Is Not A Home - Field Music  A House Is Not a Home - Petula Clark  A House Is Not a Home - Kevin Bassinson  A House Is Not a Home [*] - Mavis Staples  A House is Not a Home - Mel Tormé  A House Is Not a Home - Stevie Wonder  A House Is Not A Home - Glee Cast  A House Is Not A Home - Willie Nelson  A House Is Not A Home - Perry Como  A House Is Not A Home - Aretha Franklin  A House Is Not A Home - Dusty Springfield  A House Is Not A Home - Burt Bacharach  A House Is Not A Home - Tamyra Gray  A House Is Not A Home - Glee  A House Is Not A Home - Brook Benton  A House Is Not a Home - Sarah Vaughan  A House Is Not a Home - Various Artists  A House Is Not a Home - Kristin Chenoweth  A House Is Not A Home - American Idol  A House Is Not a Home - Aicelle Santos  A House Is Not A Home - Luther Vandross  A House Is Not a Home - The Charlatans  A House Is Not a Home - Kurt Elling  A House Is Not A Home - Eliane Elias  A House Is Not a Home - La'Porsha Renae   I Got A Letter From Home - Buck Owens  House Is Not a Home - Mavis Staples  House Is Not a Home - Charles & Eddie  House Is Not a Home - Dionne Warwick  House Is Not a Home - Luther Vandross  House Is Not a Home - Burt Bacharach  Horse Is Not a Home - Miike Snow  This Is Not A Home - Three Days Grace  House Is Not a Home - Charles And Eddie  House Is Not A Home - The Gun Club  The Inevitable Story Of My Homosexualized Woodlous...  When A House Is Not A Home - Connie Smith  When A House Is Not A Home - Willie Nelson  A House Is Not a Home [Live] - Burt Bacharach  A House Is Not A Home (Stereo) - Brook Benton  A House Is Not a Home [Instrumental]...  When A House Is Not A Home - Roger Miller  When a House (Is Not a Home) - Roger Miller  Each Dream Is An Example - Gastr Del Sol  Rattlin' Bog - The Irish Descendants  Sense Outa Nansense - Linton Kwesi Johnson  This House Is Not a Home - Okkervil River  Waffle House Is Not a Home - The Gadjits  This House is Not a Home - The Forecast  Our House Is Not A Home - Lynn Anderson  This Grill Is Not A Home - spongebob squarepants  Waffle House Is Not a Home - Gadjits  This House Is Not A Home - The Rembrandts  Make Believe - Not a Hero  Australia - Not a Hero  Up In The Clouds - Not A Hero  Say You’ll Catch Me - Not A Hero  Not Quite A Home - The Panics  Arms Control Poseur - The Fall  A House Is Not a Home [Album Version]...  A House Is Not a Home [Multimedia Track]...  A House Is Not a Home [DVD][Live] - Dionne Warwick  A House Is Not A Home - Tamyra Gray...  A House Is Not a Home [Live][Version]...  A House Is Not a Home (French & English)...  A House Without Love Is Not A Home - Merle Haggard  Son Of Earth - Samael  A View (To What We Found)...  Bugs & Bees - A Home. A Heart. Whatever.  Beside Ourselves - A Home. A Heart. Whatever.  Crystaleyed - A Home. A Heart. Whatever.  Your Love - A Home. A Heart. Whatever.  Me, Pretender - A Home. A Heart. Whatever.  Inspiration Medication...  This Head Aches - A Home. A Heart. Whatever.  Stacey89 - A Home. A Heart. Whatever.  A Soul To Bear - Fall of Efrafa  A House Is A Home - Ben Harper  A House Is A Home - Ben & Ellen Harper  Perfect Louse - David Thomas Broughton  Stupid Libations - Forgetters  Cape - The Bloody Oranges  Prole Art Threat [a] - The Fall  The Right Regrets - SMASH Cast  A House Is Not A Home (French & English)...  When Your House Is Not A Home - George Jones  House Without Love (is Not A Home) - George Jones  House Is Not a Home [Club Mix] - Deborah Cox  House Without Love (Is Not a Home) - Merle Haggard  When Your House Is Not A Home - Patsy Cline  House Without Love (is Not A Home) - Hank Williams  When Your House Is Not A Home - Jean Shepard  House Without Love (Is Not a Home) - Hank Williams  House Without Love (Is Not a Home) - Hank Williams  House Without Love (Is Not a Home) - Hank Williams  Home is a Heartache - Honor Bright  Home Is A Fire - Death Cab For Cutie  Horror Show - Hefner  Not a Word from Home - Joe Val  ARMS CONTROL POSEUR - Fall  Relentless - Pentagram  A House Is Not a Motel - Yo La Tengo  A House Is Not a Motel - Arthur Lee  A Moth Is Not A Butterfly - Hawksley Workman  A House is Not a Motel - Love  A Kiss is Not a Contract - Flight of the Conchords  God Bless You Blood Thirsty Zeppelins...  Straightening Up The House...  A Home - Dixie Chicks  Heart Is Not Home - I Speak Machine  This Is Not Home - Shawn Pander  A House Is Not A Home [Glee Cast Version] [Version...  Big Bird - The B-52's  Big Bird - B-52's  Big Bird - B-52s  Big Bird - The B-52s  I Need You - I'm Not a Pilot  Too Late - I'm Not a Pilot  Wait Here - I'm Not a Pilot  Disappear - I'm Not a Pilot  For My Own Good - A West Way Home  You Had It All - A West Way Home  Zones and Continents - A West Way Home  Withering Braches - A Hope For Home  Babylon: The Insatiable Thirst - A Hope For Home  Iniquity: An Offering - A Hope For Home  The Exile - A Hope For Home  Infidelity: Kingdom’s End - A Hope For Home  Yea, The Cold Embrace Of The Sea - A Hope For Home  Restoration: The Return From Exile...  The Human Project Lives - A Hope For Home  Out Of Ruin, Misery - A Hope For Home  Kyle - A Hope For Home  The House Where You Were Born - A Hope For Home  Of Water And The Spirit - A Hope For Home  (Grace) We Are The Heirs! - A Hope For Home  Seasons - A Hope For Home  The Crippling Fear - A Hope For Home  The Warmth Of The Heavens - A Hope For Home  Firewind - A Hope For Home  Tides - A Hope For Home  After - A Hope For Home  Calm - A Hope For Home  Ascension - A Hope For Home  My Path, Ascending - A Hope For Home  Withering Branches - A Hope For Home  The Machine Stops - A Hope For Home  Weaved - A Hope For Home  First Light Of Dawn - A Hope For Home  No Light - A Hope For Home  Post Tenebras Lux - A Hope For Home  The Overman - A Hope For Home  Everything That Rises Must Converge...  Affliction: The Witness, The Advocate...  Absolution: Of Flight And Failure...  A Grief Observed - A Hope For Home  Nightfall - A Hope For Home  Casting Light Through Such Thin Shades...  Big Bird - B-52's, The  English House - Fleet Foxes  A Song Is Not A Business Plan - The Rocket Summer  A House Is Not a Motel [DVD] - Love  A House Is Not a Motel [#][*][Instrumental] - Love  A Shooting Star Is Not A Star...  A Song Is Not A Business Plan - Rocket Summer  Wanna Be Rich - A+  My Crew - A+  Next Level (Intro)/Enter Hempstead - A+  Enjoy Yourself [Instrumental] - A+  Up Top New York [Album Version] - A+  Up Top New York [Instrumental] - A+  Up Top New York - A+  Number One - A  Nothing [CD-ROM Video][*] - A  Thinking About You - A  Rush Song [TD Album] - A  I Wonder [B Side] - A  Stand Up In It - A  Robin Thicke " Lost Without You" - A  "Just My Imagination" The Temptations - A  Waiting in Vain - A  Thinking of you - A