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 it's socket ...
And the ball hangs fallen on your cheek.
Complaining tongues are stilled; a thousand mouths are filled