Peter Hammill Shell lyrics

Turn a card, turn a page, the action
Sure to start second stage reaction
To illogical thought on random lines
In a Borges dream we move
Toward the writing of lives

Leave it out, leave it in, no edits
With a shout, with a grin, I said it
Was a certainty that I'd arrive
In an Escher sketch we walk
Around the drawing of lines

The character, uncertainty
As he contemplates his lot
And tries to move with urgency
Though he's rooted to the spot

On the brink, on the edge but lately
What I think, what I said escapes me
In a flash, a tiger burning bright
Does the visionary trance
Obscure the burgeoning night


And she said, "What are you doing?"
And he said, "What do you think?"
Oh, no, what on earth are we doing?

The characters procrastinate
On the threshold of the door
There's something here that fascinates
Though the meaning's still unsure

And the plot so thick, is it some kind of history?
Sketch the thumbnail to the quick
Oh, even though it's full of contradiction
Though it's flawed in the design
This is no fiction, it's a lifeline

Here we are, there we went, full circle
Shooting stars, heaven sent, turned turtle
On the beach our shells are left behind
Like a library, like a memory
Of our ghost-written lives