Peter Hammill Rubicon
I lay down beside you : I am a unicorn, you a virginal maid,
and I come in laughing play ----
but, maybe, to be saved.
Peer through the backcloth : I am a character in the play,
the words I slur are pre-ordained ----
we know them anyway.
Don't change your mind, don't be a fickle friend;
don't change your mind, don't pretend
to something false.
Open the toy-box : you are Pandora, I am the World.
If you cross the stream, you never can return;
If you stay, you'll surely burn.
Don't change your mind, don't come all orchid eyes;
don't change your mind, don't disguise the fear
you feel :
it's real, and you must
guard your castle well, for I am the lone wolf,
and the boar at bay -----
grant me your Pax, you know we only live today,
and on, and on, and into :
"so Long" -- it takes so long to drown;
it takes so very long to choke on the taste you'd spurned.
If you cross the stream you never can return;
If you stay you'll surely burn.
