The Piper

Can you hear the Piper?
The hum slicing the air
Near then far from where you are
The Piper's flight from care
Near then far from where you are
The Piper's flight from care

No more reserves to draw from
No fossils to exhume
The Piper's become empty
And runs on naught but fume
For hearts to rend what should impend
But an untimely doom

King in stately tower
Hears the weak'ning call
"I'll bring you in and stop your din
And save you from a fall
I'll bring you in and stop your din
And keep you from a stall."

Piper accepts refuge
If for a single night
"My solemn work is calling
I leave at early light
Forsooth, upon the morrow
I continue my flight"

(Instrumental)

The monarch acquiesces
A tired mind won't soar
On flights of fancy freely
Through harmony and war
On wings of song, adventures long
Beyond the distant shore

Can you hear the Piper?
The hum slicing the air
Near then far from where you are
The Piper's flight from care
Near then far from where you are
The Piper's flight from care

One, venomous, a Viper
Makes its cuts here and there
Halts the Piper's humming
Strands it in midair
But on the ground safe harbor's found
Betwixt no room to err

The traitor is one within
And all do know it well
The Piper lost or heavy cost?
Can you a choice compel?
The Piper lost or heavy cost?
Death or an empty shell?

The king calls to the Piper
And asks for certain tune
It's just radio silence
Like shouting at the moon
There's no response or "This thing on?"'s
A great life lost too soon

And we now mourn
One who was born
In life to soar so high
And yet the art
Comes from the heart
In moments 'fore you die

Could you hear the Piper?
The hum that sliced the air
You could infer from where you were
The Piper was still there
You could infer from where you were
The Piper's flight from care