Visitation at Fort Horn

Behind the walls where heat lightning falls

On five starred gnat-faced princess

The buffalo man shoots at the tin cats

Turns and shouts "children, blow your bridges"

On death row halls where dustmen stall

Where time's an enemy and a friend

At night jackals crawl from the cracks in the walls

And salvation is never spoken

Morning sickness breaks the garrison gate

The cavalry cries for treason

The soldier strokes his pony and goes to shine the captain's sword

In this young boy's eyes lie reason

And the sergeant bursts in and cries "i caught a prisoner, captain,

A prisoner, what ho !"

The captain looks up and says "let her go"

"but captain, she patrols the light ships that patrol the sea around

The rainbow tips, whose bagpiper wail unbroken

She haunts the night and the dawnin' light

On her sounds and words your cavalry chokin' "

The captain says "have no fear, boys

For what you hear

Because danger can't be spoken "

The whirlwind crackles and I hear the rustle of shackles

From the stockade door bursts merlin

His eyes red, and swollen, like they've been pushed into the sun

His robes aflame and burnin'

He jumps a horse, tries to get away

But he gets caught in his eyes, tangled in his eyes

He falls to the ground, his neck is broken

His spirit rises high in the western sky

The magician lies an empty token

The sergeant walks over and kicks his body

And says "captain, he's dead - what shall we do with him ? "

The captain says "hang him

For though his live moments on this earth are well spent

And I can se his body is sure well bent

It's magic that must be broken "

Now night cradles low

The penniless weed plays wrath felt in the captain's corner

With anvil spread wide, the captain glides

Each blow to scare her, not to hurt her

She spits "what truth" at the captain's boots

But he holds his rage suspended

The sergeant comes in stinkin' of soldier's gin

And cries "captain, the storm she blows unending"

Oh and the lightning cracked and the sky was hacked

By dagger rain it was torn

And the yard was charged into a raging sea

And the captain ran crazily

For the first time in his life, in the captain's heart

Fear was born

The captain storms out on the stoop, panic strikes

He sees merlin's hung body stretched by the neck

Silhouetted on his door

The sergeant screams "captain, look high, look to the sky !"

Some whirling, swirling emission ...

But the captain falls to his knees crying silent pleas

'cause he knows, he knows, and he thinks to himself

"a magician..."