Peter Hammill - The Comet, The Course, The Tail Lyrics
They say we are endowed with Free Will--at least that justifies our need for indecision.But between our insticts and the lust to killwe bow our heads in submission.They say that no man is an islandbut then they say our castles are our homes;it's felt the choice is ours, between peace and violence ...oh, yes, we choose, alone?While the comet spreads its tail across the skyit nowhere near defines the course it flies,nor does it find its own direction.Though the path of the comet be sure,its constitution is not,so its meaning is possibly morethan the tracing of a tailin one brief shot at glory.Love and peace and individuality--so order and society are man-made?War and hate and dark depravity--or are we slaves?Channeling aggressive energies,the Death Wish and the Will to surviveinto finding and preserving enemies--is that the only way we know that we're alive?In the slaughterhouse all corpses smell the same,whether queens or pawns or innocents at the game;in the cemetery a uniform cloaks the gravesexcept for outward pomp and circumstance.There is a time set in the calendarwhen all reason seems barely enoughto sustain all the shooting stars:times are rough.I'm waiting for something to happen here,it feels as though it's long overdue:maybe a restatement of yesteryearor something entirely new.And the knowledge that we gain in partalways leads us closer to the very start,and to the founding questions:How can I tell that the road signed to hell doesn't lead up to heaven?What can I say when, in some obscure way, I am my own direction?-----------------------
