The Innocent Age

Capture the moment
Carry the day
Stay with the chase
As long as you may
Follow the dreamer,
The fool, and the sage
Back to the days of
The innocent age.

Storybook endings
Never appear
They're just someone's way of
Leading us here
Waiting for wisdom
To open the cage
We forged in the fires of
The innocent age.

Back at the start
It was easy to see
No one to own to
Nowhere to be
Deep in the heartlands
A sad memory
Calls to me.
(calls to me)

Fretful horizons
Worrisome skies
Tearful misgivings
Burning your eyes
Yearnings unanswered
Reckon the wage you
Pay to recapture the innocent age.

Back at the start
It was easy to see
No one to own to
Nowhere to be
Deep in the heartlands
A sad memory
Calls to me.
(calls to me)

Fretful horizons
Worrisome skies
Tearful misgivings
Burning your eyes
Yearnings unanswered
Reckon the wage you
Pay to recapture the innocent age.

there's a ring around the moon
Tonight
And a chill in the air
And a fire in the stars that
Hang -- so near;
So near.

There's a sound in the wind that
Blows
Through the wild mountain holds
Like the sighs of a thousand crying
Souls;
Crying souls --

There's a time when the traveller
Is fated to find
That insight has turned his gaze
Behind -- behind
And the steps taken yesterday
Will beckon again
And lead to his weary journey's
End -- journey's end.

And in the passage
From the cradle to the grave
We are born, madly dancing
Rushing headlong through the
Crashing of the days
We run on and on
Without a backwards glance
We run on and on
Without a backwards glance.

But i cast my fate with the
Wife of lot
I turned my gaze around
Knowing neither what was sought
Nor what was to be found
Heeding weakness, feeding
Strength
Life at length is frail
I seek again the river's source
Through time's dark shadowed veil.

In the fast fading century as we spin through the years
I pray that our failing vision
Clears -- our vision clears.

And in the passage
From the cradle to the grave
We are born, madly dancing
Rushing headlong through the
Crashing of the days
We run on and on
Without a backwards glance
We run on and on
Without a backwards glance.

The places dash and the faces
Dart
Like fishes in a dream
Hiding 'neath the murky banks
Of long forgotten streams
The lines of life are never long
When seen from end to end
The future's never coming
And the past has never been.

There's a ring around the moon
Tonight
And a chill in the air
And a fire in the stars that
Hang -- so near;
So near.

Sometimes, in the night i feel it
Near as my next breath
And yet, untouchable
Silently the past comes stealing
Like the taste of some forbidden sweet

Along the walls; in shadowed rafters
Moving like a thought through haunted atmospheres
Muted cries and echoed laughter
Banished dreams that never sank in sleep

Lost in love and found in reason
Questions that the mind can find no answers for
Ghostly eyes conspire treason
As they gather just outside the door ...

Every ghost that calls upon us
Brings another measure in the mystery
Death is there
To keep us honest
And constantly remind us we are free

Down the ancient corridors
And through the gates of time
Run the ghosts of days
That we left behind

Down the ancient corridors
And through the gates of time
Run the ghosts of dreams
That we left behind

Sometimes, in the night i feel it
Near as my next breath and yet, untouchable
Silently the past comes stealing
Like the taste of some forbidden sweet

Every ghost that calls upon us
Brings another measure in the mystery
Death is there
To keep us honest
And constantly remind us we are free

Down the ancient corridors
And through the gates of time
Run the ghosts of days
That we left behind

Grand slam
Your moment's at hand
The day holds a costly bargain
Lost lamb
Asking the lion's share
Homespun
A prodigal son
Comes begging a humble pardon
But no one
Rises to hear his prayer...

Lone star
You've wandered so far
And long in the unfamiliar
That now you
Travel a map unknown
Starbright
A constant delight
To those in the dark
And still your
Birthright's
To shine in the night -- alone.

Living in the shadows
Of the things that might
Have been
Torn between the blessing
And the curse
You may stop the hunger
But you'll never slake
The thirst
For the nectar you remember
But you'll never taste again...

Nonesuch
Your midas' touch
Has gilded your heart
And left you
So much
Playing the prince
Of clowns
Hell-bent
Empty and spent
Just look what your
Gamble's got you
Exile
Far from the sacred grounds...

Living in the shadows
Of the things that might
Have been
Torn between the blessing
And the curse
You may stop the hunger
But you'll never slake
The thirst
For the nectar you remember
But you'll never taste again.

Grand slam
Your moment's at hand
The day holds a costly bargain
Lost lamb
Asking the lion's share.

Every time we speak
Our words betray intentions
Insincere inventions
That never quite reach the heart
So we turn the other cheek
And gather our defenses
Again, rebuild the fences
That just been keeping us apart.

Waiting out the worst
We keep the best inside us
In hopes our hearts can't hide us
In hopes our tears don't show
And you know we're not the first
To try and breach the distance
And though we meet resistance
The love between us grows.

And in the time it takes us
To look beyond the lies
We could be sailing through
Each other's eyes
And in those stolen moments
When love is caught off guard
We see it never had to be
This hard.

Every time we speak
Our words betray intentions
Insincere inventions
That never quite reach the heart
So we turn the other cheek
And gather our defenses
Again, rebuild the fences
That just been keeping us apart.

And in the time it takes us
To look beyond the lies
We could be sailing through
Each other's eyes
And in those stolen moments
When love is caught off guard
We see it never had to be
This hard.

Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling christmas eve
I stole behind her in the frozen foods
And i touched her on the sleeve

She didn't recognize the face at first
But then her eyes flew open wide
She went to hug me and she spilled her purse
And we laughed until we cried.

We took her groceries to the checkout stand
The food was totalled up and bagged
We stood there lost in our embarrassment
As the conversation dragged.

We went to have ourselves a drink or two
But couldn't find an open bar
We bought a six-pack at the liquor store
And we drank it in her car.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how.

She said she'd married her an architect
Who kept her warm and safe and dry
She would have liked to say she loved the man
But she didn't like to lie.

I said the years had been a friend to her
And that her eyes were still as blue
But in those eyes i wasn't sure if i saw
Doubt or gratitude.

She said she saw me in the record stores
And that i must be doing well
I said the audience was heavenly
But the traveling was hell.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to time
Reliving in our eloquence
Another 'auld lang syne'...

The beer was empty and our tongues were tired
And running out of things to say
She gave a kiss to me as i got out
And i watched her drive away.

Just for a moment i was back at school
And felt that old familiar pain
And as i turned to make my way back home
The snow turned into rain --

Waiting in the wings
Your courage sings before you falter . . .
It's just another way to say
What's there but never shows

It's just another day to lay
Your sins before the altar
And where it's going to end
This time around nobody knows.

Every time it seems that you
Have gained an understanding
Those devils at your heels
Reach up and try to tip the scales

Waking from a dream
You see it's all been done without you
And every vain attempt to make it stay
Is destined to fail.

Chorus

Fury rages through your restless days
Shades of time that's gone before
Empty cages where the prisoner plays
'til the door swings closed behind for evermore . . .
Evermore...
Evermore...

Long before we come of
Age we yearn to leave the garden
And wrestle with a myth
The hand of fate
Has faintly drawn

But somewhere on the way
We feel our hearts begin to harden
And see just as we learn
To turn around
The garden is gone.

Fury rages through your restless days
Shades of time that's gone before
Empty cages where the prisoner plays
'til the door swings closed
Behind for evermore . . .

Evermore...
Evermore...

Dawn...like an angel
Lights on the step
Muting the morning she heralds
Dew on the grass
Like the tears the night wept
Gone long before
The day wears old.

Times stills the singing
A child holds so dear
And i'm just beginning to hear
Gone are the pathways
The child followed home
Gone, like the sand and the foam.

Pressed in the pages
Of some aging text
Lies an old lily, crumbling
Marking a moment
Of childish respects
Long since betrayed and forgotten.

Times stills the singing
A child holds so dear
And i'm just beginning to hear
Gone are the pathways
The child followed home
Gone, like the sand and the foam.

Dawn...like an angel
Lights on the step
Muting the morning she heralds
Dew on the grass
Like the tears the night wept
Gone long before
The day wears old.

Times stills the singing
A child holds so dear
And i'm just beginning to hear
Gone are the pathways
The child followed home
Gone, like the sand and the foam
Gone, like the sand
Gone, like the sand and the foam.

Silent sea
Tell this to me:
Where are the children that we
Used to be

Silent sea:
At picture shows
Where nobody goes
And only the heart can see.

Starry skies
Soft lullabies
Where do they go when their
Melodies die?

Starry skies:
To a day
Far, far away
That only the heart may know.

Friends we knew
Follow us through
All of the days of our lives
Love we shared
Waits for us there
Where our wishes forever reside.

Falling tears
Memories' mirrors
Where are summers
Oh, where are the years?

Falling tears:
Carried far
To a wandering star
That only the heart may know.

Friends we knew
Follow us through
All of the days of our lives
Love we shared
Waits for us there
Where our wishes forever reside.

Starry skies
Soft lullabies
Where do they go when their
Melodies die?
To a day
Far, far away
That only the heart may know.