Thousand Yard Stare

I was singing here when the hangman came
He coloured his eyes sloe-black
Arranged a lasso from a web of tangled chains
Poured a drink in the recess of the bar
And took aim

And in the midst of all this chaos she idles in
Like some divine show
And everything explodes in me
I'm a loony bin
I'm a bumbling drunk on a carousel

But then something stirs, something jars the scene
I wasn't looking for Death but Death found me
He was hanging out from a cypress tree
Heaving scorn down upon me like some hazing ceremony

Testimony of a thin man
"I'm a helmsman plotting out a course
Through a raging cyclone in a dreamland
I'm a nomad rambling in a wasteland
A conman singing from a bandstand
A programme of temperamental plans neatly wrapped in my pocket
And the Tin Man's living in a world of pain"

So, my lover took a blade to the doctrinaire
The phony saint with his heart ensnared
In the haze inside a thousand yard stare
It was the final act of a love affair

She wasn't looking for Death but Death still came
It was a sorry show
It's a crying shame that she lost her mind
But she found her faith in some safe sanctuary
Wild and free

Testimony of a thin man
"I'm a helmsman plotting out a course
Through a raging cyclone in a dreamland
I'm a nomad rambling in a wasteland
A conman singing from a bandstand
A programme of temperamental plans neatly wrapped in my pocket
And the Tin Man's living in a world of pain"

Well, they told me to sell my rack and woe
(Sell it down the river)
Sold to the meddling crowd in the bordello
(Sold down the river)
And they told me to sell my dearest friends
(Sell them down the river)
To a coterie

See, now and then
(Sell it down the river)
I will sell my heart and I'll sell my soul
(Sell them down the river)
I'll sell my will, I'll sell my home
(Sold down the river)
But I'm not selling the part where I keep her whole
(Sold down the river)
That's my own sanctuary
It harbours me