Lyrics
[Intro Epic Saxophone Riff]
[Verse]
Side by side, their faces blurred,
The earl and countess LIE IN STONE,
Their proper habits vaguely shown
As jointed armour, stiffened pleat,
And that faint hint of the absurd—
(The little dogs under their feet).
[Intro Riff - Acoustic]
Such plainness of the PRE-BAROQUE
Hardly involves the eye, until
It meets his left-hand gauntlet, still
Clasped empty in the other; and
One sees, with a SHARP tender shock,
His hand withdrawn, HOLDING HER HAND.
[Guitar Solo A]
They would not THINK to lie so long.
Such FAITHFULNESS in effigy
Was just a detail friends would see:
A sculptor’s SWEET commissioned grace
Thrown off in helping to prolong
The LATIN NAMES around the base.
[Guitar Turnaround, with drums]
They would not GUESS how early in
Their SUPINE stationary voyage
The air would change to SOUNDLESS damage,
(Turn the old tenantry away)
How soon SUCCEEDING EYES begin
To LOOK, not REED. RIGIDLY they
[Guitar Solo B, Saxophone riff]
Persisted, LINKED, through lengths and breadths
(Of time. Snow fell, undated)... Light
Each summer thronged the glass. A bright
Litter of birdcalls strewed the same
Bone-riddled ground. And up the paths
The endless ALTERED people came,
[Guitar Turnaround, with drums]
They would not GUESS how early in
Their SUPINE stationary voyage
The air would change to SOUNDLESS damage,
(Turn the old tenantry away)
How soon SUCCEEDING EYES begin
To LOOK, not REED. RIGIDLY they
[Guitar Solo B, Saxophone riff]
Persisted, LINKED, through lengths and breadths
(Of time. Snow fell, undated)... Light
Each summer thronged the glass. A bright
Litter of birdcalls strewed the same
Bone-riddled ground. And up the paths
The endless ALTERED people came,
[Outro Riff, Muted Drums]
Washing at their IDENTITY.
Now, HELPLESS in the hollow of
An unarmorial age, a trough
Of smoke in slow suspended skeins
Above their SCRAP of history,
ONLY AN ATTITUDE remains:
[Saxophone Solo]
Time has TRANSFIGURED them into
UNTRUTH. The stone FIDELITY
They hardly meant has come to be
Their final BLAZON, and to prove
Our ALMOST-INSTINCT almost true:
What will SURVIVE of us is LOVE.
[Rhodes piano and Blues Guitar Solo]
[Chorus]
[Drum Solo]
[Outro]
[Rhodes piano and Blues Guitar Solo]
[Chorus]
[Drum Solo]
[Outro]
