Peter Hammill
The Mercy
What I once thought was everlasting
All of a sudden been and gone
It is finished, it is finished but mercy's moving us along
What can you carry for your brother
When you can't stand up on your own?
It's hard to keep up, it's hard to keep up
This part you have to do alone

Each time you make a resolution
(I get no sense
Who knows what lies in your intent?
Of what you meant to say
There goes the story, there goes the story
By way of a defence.)
Here comes the circular descent

If I say "Good night and god bless"
I might yet confess I'm hoping to see
That when daylight breaks
I will face a fait accompli

When the time comes I hope I'll say
This is the moment I must stay
My hand in mercy
I don't intend to let you go
I never meant to leave you lonely
This is the moment I must show
My hand in mercy
What I perceived as everlasting
(I might be wrong…
Now I just see as overlong
You still belong among those
Beyond endurance, beyond endurance
Hungry to press on.)
Beyond this point you can't carry on
But I believe what someone told me:
When we are pushed right to the edge
Right to the limit, when it is finished
It is the mercy

So I say "Good night and god bless, sleep tight"
Counting sheep and closing my eyes
I will drift away from the livelong day
Up the wooden hill slowly climb
So I say "Good night and god bless, sleep tight"

I must go outside and I might be some time