Nobody's Empire

Lying on my bed I was reading french

With the light too bright for my senses

From this hiding place, life was way too much

It was loud and rough round the edges

So I faced the wall when an old man called

Out of dreams that I would die there

But a sight unseen, you were pulling strings

And you had a different idea

I was like a child, I was light as straw

When my father lifted me up there

Took me to a place where they checked my body

My soul was floating in thin air

I clung to the bed, and I clung to the past

And I clung to the welcome darkness

But at the end of the night

There's a green green light

It's the quiet before the madness

There was a girl that sang like the chime of a bell

She put out her arm and she touched me when I was in hell

Someone sang a song and I sang along

'Cause I knew the words from my childhood

Intellect, ambition they fell away

They locked me up for my own good

But I didn't mind cause the silence was kind

And you spoke to me in whispers

There was the sound of the wind in the cold cold dawn

And the quiet hum of business

Let me dangle a while in this waiting room

I don't need to go

I don't need to know what your doing

Lying on my side you were half awake and your face was tired and crumpled

If I had a camera I'd snap you now cos there's beauty in every stumble

We are out of practise we're out of sight

On the edge of nobody's empire

If we live by books and we live by hope

Does that make us targets for gunfire?

Now I look at you you're a mother of two

You're a quiet revolution

Marching with the crowd singing dirty and loud

For the people's emancipation

Did I do ok, did I pave the way

Was I strong when you were wanting

I was tied to the yoke with a decent bloke

Who was stern but never daunting

And he told me to push and he made me feel well

And he told me to leave that vision of hell to the dying