Twelve, they cut loose a ship And slip the noose from their fate Twelve different reasons they have for flying For wanting escape (and) They who claim this helm they seek new realms They veer t'ward map's end So if you've got the spark climb aboard this barque Journey's 'bout to begin When you take hold o' that wind and you give it a spin now you begin to take back what you sold When you taste that the mist in the air so rare now you're there welcome to the low road Helm's-a-lee by land or sea We won't be slowed Won't cry 'avast' 'til we have past The last known of this road When you've shook wake the morn to cheer up the storm look at you now, higher than nest of the crow shouting: “Land ho!” When you've smelled the sun at each day's done the horizons reach for you, take you into the fold When you're drunk upon the stars and you know what's yours is thars now you're far 'pon the low road Helm's-a-lee by land or sea We won't be slowed Won't cry 'avast' 'til we have past The last known of this road And so when you got the wind in tow Go ahead break the oars Who says you can't plant roots in the sea? When the die you've finally cast you have outrun your past at last and you're bound to roam ceaselessly Sailing oh, sailing o'er the bounding main Sailing oh, sailing we shan't return again See when we hung our hats, laid our heads and called it home It felt no more than a crypt holding our bones Sailing still, sailing shackled to the bounding main Sailing oh, flailing never knew when to say when And years of ten stack quicker than you can count And the days only churn faster and faster around And you drown in the sound of your own breath As you realize your best has been left Behind at Youth's behest Who says an ol' sea man can't plant roots in the ground When he's found there was nothing out there to find Nine lives, they say the cat has and like a cat how you did bat yours about like a ball of twine Now watch... watch as it all unwinds Twelve, a ship cut loose The noose's now 'round their neck Whatever their reasons for flying now they're crying: “All hands on deck!” They took the helm and sought new realms Now they're off map's end All hands lost such is the cost When time with scorn is blent And your straight answers spew out bent And your whims, oh, how you do coddle You become trapped... 'Pon a ship in a bottle

Shade tree Sunday morning Church bells Don't stir me Shore side Divan of sand Halo of gulls Wave song lulls me Storms there've been storms there'll be But the calm now's got it's arms 'round (just as) The bite of scythe'll make that hay the scythe will come and cut me down someday But for now I'm just reaping the quiet of... Dirt road Cricket hum Think I'll just bum this day away Branch expanse Braided ceiling Backrest thank you, old stone for this throne Storms there've been storms there'll be But the calm now's got it's arms 'round The scythe's bite, it makes that hay the scythe will come for me someday But not now no, not now The clock hands scissor and cut the clock hands have carved me up And I'm falling in pieces confetti in ol' Father Time's parade Let the wind come and gather me up and sweep me someplace above My mind's designs I'll see you there, my friend See you there if you want to If you see me there just wave and let me be If I see you there, my friend and I want to If I see you there I'll just wave and let you be Let you be... And let me be...

Cracked sidewalk cocktail of smog and wind Vacant lot grins at what might have been (with) Nubs of chalk here I am again Tracing nobodies Holes in clocks days are slipping through Dreams in lock still got a few (with) Nubs of chalk I see you here too Tracing no.......bodies Everywhere you go footprints are there Every boat you row is upstream Every line you toe's to a race already run what fun for somebody Never gonna go to the rainbow's end Never in a row to which you were not sent Never going toe-to-toe with those you think are... somebody Empty talk spilled upon the floor Furtive knocks on open doors Hands with chalk here we are once more Tracing nobodies Sagging box on a frowzy lawn Dreams to hock I'll see you at the pawn With nubs of chalk and tired arms here we are Still tracing nobodies Everywhere you go footprints are there Every boat you row is upstream Every line you toe's to a race already run what fun for somebody Never gonna go to the rainbow's end Never in a row to which you were not sent Never going toe-to-toe with those you think are... somebody Empty is the park in the rain And we scratch poems out in a drain Where the names are lost They never knew the cost of Empty aspirations chosen from the wall And we dance alone in this crowded hall No gall to call a different tune We just keep doin' what we're doin' Tracing nobodies... Chasing nobodies... Tracing nobody

It so happens I'm not lackin' in ports I could call It so happens I'm not slackin' I'm just caught in free fall And on my wall is your picture and though it's in a frame The bracken in my attic has me forgetting your name And it so happens one-eyed jacks and the suicide king's in my hand It so happens I've lost track of all my demands And my plan all along was to sing you a song as I rolled the dice but the bracken in my attic only allowed luck for a price And I paid it with my youth Does this truth sound familiar? Now these pillars are all that remain Of the castle I once knew The ceiling's now stars to blue And it so happens this little extract's from the book of my mind And it so happens if you flip to the back you'll just be wasting your time 'Cause I'm miming ev'ry word that really should be heard Yeah, this bracken in my attic has me caught spinnin' verse And it so happens there's a crack in my rear-view mirror And it just so happens the fracture's getting worse every year And as I peer back at the ways that I got lost in the maze of the bracken in my attic it leaves me asking you to Size me up with your pain And this refrain may sound familiar Now these pillars are all that remain Of the castle we once knew Ceiling's now stars to blue And it so happens there's a map inked 'cross the floor And it so happens all the crap I believed it orbits 'round the core Of a door to press my ear to listen as I steer... Through the bracken in my attic to face what I've feared Through the bracken in my attic to welcome in all my fears Through the bracken in my attic