RUSH - Cygnus X-1 Book Ii Hemispheres lyrics

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Words by neil peart, music by geddy lee and alex lifeson<br><br>I. prelude<br>When our weary world was young<br>The struggle of the ancients first began<br>The gods of love and reason<br>Sought alone to rule the fate of man<br><br>They battled through the ages<br>But still neither force would yield<br>The people were divided<br>Every soul a battlefield ...<br><br>Ii. apollo: bringer of wisdom<br>'i bring truth and understanding<br>I bring wit, and wisdom fair<br>Precious gifts beyond compare<br>We can build a world of wonder<br>I can make you all aware'<br><br>'i will find you food and shelter<br>Show you fire to keep you warm<br>Through the endless winter storm<br>You can live in grace and comfort<br>In the world that you transform'<br><br>The people were delighted<br>Coming forth to claim their prize<br>They ran to build their cities<br>And converse among the wise<br><br>But one day the streets fell silent<br>Yet they knew not what was wrong<br>The urge to build these fine things<br>Seemed not to be so strong<br><br>The wise men were consulted<br>And the bridge of death was crossed<br>In quest of dionysus<br>To find out what they had lost ...<br><br>Iii. dionysus: bringer of love<br>'i bring love to give you solace<br>In the darkness of the night<br>In the heart's eternal light<br>You need only trust your feelings<br>Only love can steer you right'<br><br>'i bring laughter, I bring music<br>I bring joy and I bring tears<br>I will soothe your primal fears<br>Throw off those chains of reason<br>And your prison disappears'<br><br>The cities were abandoned<br>And the forests echoed song<br>They danced and lived as brothers<br>They knew love could not be wrong<br><br>Food and wine they had aplenty<br>And they slept beneath the stars<br>The people were contented<br>And the gods watched from afar<br><br>But the winter fell upon them<br>And it caught them unprepared<br>Bringing wolves and cold starvation<br>And the hearts of men despaired ...<br><br>Iv. armageddon: the battle of heart and mind<br>The universe divided<br>As the heart and mind collided<br>With the people left unguided<br>For so many troubled years<br>In a cloud of doubts and fears<br>Their world was torn asunder<br>Into hollow hemispheres<br><br>Some fought themselves, some fought each other<br>Most just followed one another<br>Lost and aimless like their brothers<br>For their hearts were so unclear<br>And the truth could not appear<br>Their spirits were divided<br>Into blinded hemispheres<br><br>Some who did not figh<br>Brought tales of old to light<br>My 'rocinante' sailed by night<br>On her final flight<br><br>To the heart of cygnus' fearsome force<br>We set our course<br>Spiralled through that timeless space<br>To this immortal place<br><br>V. cygnus: bringer of balance<br>I have memory and awareness<br>But I have no shape or form<br>As a disembodied spirit<br>I am dead and yet unborn<br>I have passed into olympus<br>As was told in tales of old<br>To the city of immortals<br>Marble white and purest gold<br><br>I see the gods in battle rage on high<br>Thunderbolts across the sky<br>I cannot move, I cannot hide<br>I feel a silent scream begin inside<br><br>Then all at once the chaos ceased<br>A stillness fell, a sudden peace<br>The warriors felt my silent cry<br>And stayed their struggle, mystified<br><br>Apollo was atonished<br>Dionysus thought me mad<br>But they heard my story further<br>And they wondered, and were sad<br><br>Looking down from olympus<br>On a world of doubt and fear<br>Its surface splintered<br>Into sorry hemispheres<br><br>They sat a while in silence<br>Then they turned at last to me<br>'we will call you cygnus,<br>The God of balance you shall be'<br><br>The sphere: a kind of dream<br>We can walk our road together<br>If our goals are all the same<br>We can run alone and free<br>If we pursue a different aim<br><br>Let the truth of love be lighted<br>Let the love of truth shine clear<br>Sensibility<br>Armed with sense and liberty<br>With the heart and mind united<br>In a single perfect sphere