(Hammill - Jackson)
Just one crazy moment while the dice are cast,
he looks into the future and remembers what is past,
wonders what he's doing on this battlefield,
shrugs to his shadow, impatient, too proud yet to kneel.
In his wake he leaves scorched earth and work in vain;
smoke drifts up behind him - he is free again,
free to run before the onslaught of a deadly foe,
leaving nothing fit for pillage, hardly leaving home.
It's far too late to turn, unless it's to stone.
Charging madly forward, tracks across the snow,
wind screams madness to him, ever on he goes
leaving spoor to mark his passage, trace his weary climb.
Cross the moor and make the headland -
stumbling, wayward, blind.
In the end his footprints extend as one single line.
This latest exponent of heresy is goaded into an attack,
persuaded to charge at his enemy.
Too late, he knows it is, too late now to turn back,
too soon by far to falter.
The past sits uneasily at his rear,
he's walking right into the trap,
surrounded, but striving through will and fear.
Ahead of him he knows there waits an ambuscade
but the dice slip through his fingers
and he's living from day to day,
carrying his world around upon his back,
leaving nothing behind but the tell-tale of his track.
He will not be hostage, he will not be slave,
no snare of past can trap him, though the future may.
Still he runs and burns behind him in advanced retreat;
still his life remains unfettered - he denies defeat.
It's far too late to turn, unless it's to stone.
Leave the past to burn - at least that's been his own.
Scorched earth, that's all that's left when he's done;
holding nothing but beholden to no-one,
claiming nothing, out of no false pride, he survives.
Snow tracks are all that's left to be seen
of a man who entered the course of a dream,
claiming nothing but the life he's known
- this, at least, has been his own.
Scorched Earth
Van Der Graaf Generator
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Lyrics by Van Der Graaf Generator
A Place To Survive A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers: (Custard's) Last S... A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers: Presence Of The Ni... A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers: S.h.m. A Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers: The Clot Thickens A Plague Of Lighthouse-Keepers:(i) Eyewitness A Plague Of Lighthouse-Keepers:(ii) Pictures \/ Li... A Plague Of Lighthouse-Keepers:(iii) Eyewitness A Plague Of Lighthouse-Keepers:(iv) S.H.M. A Plague Of Lighthouse-Keepers:(ix) Land's End (Si... A Plague Of Lighthouse-Keepers:(v) Presence Of The... A Plague Of Lighthouse-Keepers:(vi) Kosmos Tours A Plague Of Lighthouse-Keepers:(vii) (Custard's) L... A Plague Of Lighthouse-Keepers:(viii) The Clot Thi... After The Flood Afterwards Angle of Incidents [#][*][Instrumental] Aquarian Arrow Boat Of Millions Of Years Cat's Eye / Yellow Fever (Running) Cat's Eye \/ Yellow Fever (Running) Childlike Faith In Childhood's End Childlike Faith In Childhood's End Darkness Darkness (11/11) Diminutions [#][*][Instrumental] Door Door [*] Ferret And Featherbird Giant Squid House With No Door Into A Game Killer La Rossa Last Frame Lemmings Lemmings (Including COG) Lemmings (incorporating Cog) Lizard Play Lost (i) Dance In Sand And Sea Lost (ii) Dance In Frost Man-Erg Masks Medley, parts of: (ii) The Sleepwalkers Medley, parts of:(i) A Plague Of Lighthouse Keeper... Meurglys III, The Songwriter's Guild Mirror Images Mirror Images (live) My Room (Waiting For Wonderland) Nadir's Big Chance Necromancer Octopus Orthenthian Street (Part I) Orthenthian Street (Part II) Out Of My Book Pilgrims Pioneers Over 'c' Pioneers Over 'c' Pioneers Over C Refugees Running Back Sci-Finance Ship Of Fools Ship of Fools [*] Still Life Still Life [#][*] The Aerosol Grey Machine The Boat Of Millions Of years The Emperor in His War Room [First Version][#][*] The Emperor In His War-room The Emperor In His War-Room (i) The Emperor The Emperor In His War-Room (ii) The Room The Emperor On His War-room Ii. The Room The Habit Of The Broken Heart The Hurlyburly The Pioneers Over C The Siren Song The Sleepwalkers The Sphinx In The Face The Sphinx Returns [Instrumental] The Undercover Man The Wave Theme One [Original Mix][#][*][Instrumental] Urban Whatever Would Robert Have Said ? When She Comes White Hammer Wondering
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