emperor in his war room

Van Der Graaf Generator

i. THE EMPEROR
Standing in the space that holds the silent lace of night
away from you
You think that you can hold the searing
moulten gold between
your fingers
But it slips through, tearing tendons as it goes
exposing the white of a knuckle
flesh-and-metal forming letters in the mould
Cradling you gun, after choosing the ones
you think should die
Lying on the hill... crawling over the windowsill into your
living-room
They stare out, glass-eyed aimless heads
bodies torn by vultures
you are the man whose hands are rank
with the smell of death
Saviour of the Fallen, Protector of the Weak
Friend of the Tall Ones, Keeper of the Peace
Ah, but it is the only way you know
Looking out to sea, a flattened plane of weeds
which bear no living
You crush life in your fist
as your heart is kissed by the lips
of death
Ghosts betray you, ghosts betray you
in the night they steal your eye
from its socket
and the ball hangs fallen on your cheek
Complaining tongues are stilled
a thousand mouths are filled
with rusting metal
Your face a shade of green
somehow you try to speak through all the
garbage in your mouth
But it won t come out, and you cannot frame the words
as your stepson
throws your fame into the flames and you are burned
Saviour of the Fallen, Protector of the Weak
Friend of the Tall Ones, Keeper of the Peace
Ah, but it is the only way you know
ii. THE ROOM
Live by sword and you shall die so
All your power shall come to nought
every life you take is part of your own
death, not power, is what you ve bought
Cringing in your room as the outriders of doom step
on your threshold
Begging for your life as the impartial knife sinks in your
screaming flesh
without malice, merely taking murder s toll
you must pay the price of hate, and that price is
your soul
Live in peace or die forever in your war-room