Peter Hammill
Before You Know It
Pace your tread out carefully
Before you know it
What will be is written
In the footprints that you leave behind you

Before you know it the unconscious steps you take define you

Black-balled at the country club
Tracked down by the security fence
Slack jawed, all the pressure's
Heading down on you

Back down from the mountaintop
Slack rope over Niagara Falls
Hack down all the jungle that's
Encroaching on you

Stacked up possibilities
Smacked down in your prime
Random fortune, pack up, now it's time
Look what's coming for you, look out
It's coming for you

Black sheep of the family
Baksheesh in your hand, greased and ready
Slapped cheek in reply, now it's coming to you
Look what's coming for you now

You're learning not to shoot from the hip
Concerned that interlopers
Might read your lips
You're learning there are pages
Missing from the script