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HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE LYRICS
"The August Engine" (2003)
1. The August Engine, Part 1
2. Rainfall
3. A Room and a Riddle
4. The August Engine, Part 2
5. Insect
6. Doomed Parade
7. The Trial and the Grave
1. The August Engine, Part 1
2. Rainfall
Rain, rain , rain
A thousand tiny drops upon the pane
Marching in their millions toward the drain
And whose to say those drops are all the same?
Against the shutters, splash and down they go
Into the Gutters, or to rivers flow
Rain, rainy day
On rooftops or on treetops either way
The curbsides and the creek beds know the way
To turn these drops to streams that flow away
To fill the rivers, bound by banks and shores
Or to the sewer, down the gutter's course
Drawn by weeds in stagnant pools of mud
Or tossed in torrents, agents of the flood
To lay to rest in placid lake
Or raging for a dam to break
Their destiny, eventually, the sea...
3. A Room and a Riddle
So: the candle has passed through a portal
Stayed by a sentry as I try to follow
Changing my cloak to a gown to gain entry
There in the center its bearer awaits
In a circular chamber of doors
Guarded by shadowy forms
There in the middle; a room and a riddle She fades away...
There where she was
A golden bird did appear
Briefly I heard the song of that bird
And then it too disappeared
Traded my cloak for a gown; look around It's the same as these guardians wear
Faces obscured, still undisturbed With their doors in this circular lair
The silence eventually broke
In one voice, the guardians spoke
There in the middle; a room and a riddle Surrounded thus
" An oath to be sworn and a robe to be worn
Now you're one of us!"
Sentries and doors!
Guard with your life
Behind each door:
A withered child clutching a knife
4. The August Engine, Part 2
So you think that you know me
Just like those below me
And you think that your wise
With those big, wide open eyes
So you won't play along, no
You say that it's wrong, oh
And you're seeing right through me
And you dare to accuse me
So you no longer love me
And you think your above me
Yet you run when your able
To fetch scrap from my table
So you've got me confounded
But I've got you surrounded
Where, where indeed
Will you turn when you're in need?
If I'm a lie, and maybe it's true
Still it is I that created you
And when you die, I'd have you believe
That even your ghost is shackled to me
As are those who bear your memory
Within you live my manufactured dreams
Soon we'll be repackaging your quaint rebellious schemes
Within this august engine's power
To vindicate or to devour
As armies march and temples tower
Our golden glory shines before before you
Our golden road opens for you
Leave all your troubles far behind you
Enter the light, though it blinds you
5. Insect
Again I wake up to your end, your ways and means
I watch your machinations seamless on the screen
I turn away again but still your always there
Your vacant, automatic smile is everywhere
The bright procession flashes past
In 2 dimensions under glass
The smile that lies between the lines
Luminous the union beams
Between the gods and their machines
The numb seduction of the blind
Sacrosanct the rank and file
Of perfect angels passes by
To modify the mind's desire
And no 3rd dimension troubles this
Procession where there's no abyss
In which there burns a fire
So you will jinx us with your trinkets and your tricks
Your malcontented ravings and your razor bladed wits
Go on you little clown and do your very worst
Go ahead and starve to death, or satisfy your thirst
The bright procession flashes past - Bad little insects find it tricky to survive
In 2 dimensions under glass
The smile that lies between the lines
Luminous the union beams - As they infest the sickest segments of the hive
Between the gods and their machines
The numb seduction of the blind
Sacrosanct the rank and file - Though we might whisper pretty words from time to time
Of perfect angels passes by
To modify the mind?s desire
And no 3rd dimension troubles this - They'll get no honey like the ones who stay in line
Procession where there's no abyss
In which there burns a fire
So yet another preconception dead ahead
A winning grimace and a gnawing sense of dread
A set of orders from a disembodied head
6. Doomed Parade
So soon the moon will come unfold her robe of constellations
And for a time the night was mine in endless fascination
But now she brings me only shadows and a host of memories
Marching on
Endlessly
Like a ghostly brigade
Marching on - Doomed parade
But now she's gone away (She was here)
Forever, I'm afraid (She was real)
No longer shall the night, from the sun
Provide its blessed shade
I saw her with my eyes (She was real)
I touched her with my hands (She was here)
Right here in this room it was She whispered in my ear
Lost forever... to hell.
Here is a wound, To go with your uniform
Here is a message, you'll never forget
Back in your tomb, reaping your true reward
The path you have chosen, you'll learn to regret
"Sleep, angel sleep.
Be not a ghost trapped in the light
Be as the day, and pass away
Into the night."
The night moves like a glacier, slow and cold
Yet rage takes over as I see the plan unfold
So that's your game, to take away the only friend I?ve ever made
In this place
How we laughed
At the ghostly brigade
Marching on - Doomed parade
I must say I'm impressed
Such cruelty in a jest
The depth of your malevolence, the fools would never guess
7. The Trial and the Grave
Was it a dream?
Was it in Hell?
What is the difference?
I scarcely can tell
Is it just I
Or the world
That's gone mad?
This Vision insane, I'll explain, that I had...
Mourning for something
Something I've never known
I Search for a headstone
A Plot with a marker
But what did I find
In time?
Nothing but a blindness inside
And golden birds in the clouds of my eyes
Then a ghostly waif did arrive
And demanded:
"Who will love or listen to me now?
What lost urchin searches for my poor disfigured ghost?"
And so a Grave I did find
In time
Not one of the dead
But voices echoing in my head
They said:
Standing condemned
The trial commenced
None to defend her and no evidence
Vaguely aware Of her hands in their chains
Heedless of all that the chamber contained
The sentence was passed
The barristers laughed
When they had killed her they cut her in half
When golden birds flew
Out from her severed halves
They trapped them to sell to the gathered riff-raff
All the ghosts had gone unnoticed there
They haunted
Every corner of the court and
Outside in the square they waited
Golden feathers now in their tin cages
Waving farewell to the shades as they brought her to
This place where only memories can breathe
She sits sewn together and scarcely bereaved
Unheard she sings an unearthly lament
And no one on earth seems to know where she went
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