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
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
I clung to the welcome darkness
But at the end of the night
There’s a green, green light
The quiet before the madness

There was a girl that sang like the chime of a bell
Then she put out her arm, she touched me when I was in hell
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
And they locked me up for my own good

But I didn't mind 'cause the silence was kind
And 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 you're doing
You know what you're 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 'cause there’s beauty in every stumble

We are out of practice, we're out of sight
On the edge of nobody’s empire
And 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 okay, 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
He told me to leave that vision of hell to the dying
Oh, to the dying