Savatage - The Hourglass lyrics

rate me

Standing alone by the edge of a river

He's traded his life for a glass full of tears

The bargain was quick for one's life is less dearer

When the sand's running out and the ending is near

The ending is near

The ending is near

The ending is...

The man climbed aboard and set sail for the ocean

He put on the mast all the canvas she'd take

Then laid himself down on the deck neath the tiller

The ship was his coffin this moment his wake

Runaway reasons

Runaway seasons

Time is a treason

That I give back to you now

The wind touched the sail and the ship

Moved the ocean

The wind from the storm set the course she would take

From a journey to nowhere towards a soul on the ocean

From the wake of Magellan to Magellan's wake

Runaway reasons

Runaway seasons

Everything in it

Hours and minutes

You take tomorrow

Because it means nothing

To me

To me

To...

In the dark he heard a whisper

Asking him to understand

In the desert look for water

On the ocean look for land

In the dark he heard a whisper

Asking him to understand

In the desert look for water

On the ocean look for land

And there in the waves

Was a man in his grave

That he saw in the night

'Tween the flashes of light

And he

Could not be there

And all he had prayed

Or had given away

He now found to be wrong

In the grip of the storm

And he

Could not be there

Could you keep our lives together

Safely back onto the shore

Could you grant this last illusion

Only this and nothing more

Could you keep our lives together

Safely back onto the shore

Could you grant this last illusion

Only this and nothing more

And all at once the heavens bled their fire

The anchor broke the chains they flew away

And suddenly the waves were reaching higher

And in the dark I thought I heard them say

Could you keep our lives together

Safely back onto the shore

Could you grant this last illusion

Only this and nothing more

But what the sailor did not know

And would never learn

Was on that beach now far away

The young child had returned

And finding the broken hourglass

He reset it upright

Then placed sand from the beach inside

And placed the lid on tight

Then examining his handiwork

He left it in the sand

And then he quickly ran back home

Thinking god would understand

Everything I ever had for one more tomorrow

Everything I ever had for just one more night

And if this is not to be I pray could I borrow

Just another final hour onto my life

Did you ever really want to

Did you ever really want to

Lord, tell me how it will be

Lord, tell me how it will be

Standing once more by a boat on a river

He pushes it off while he stays on the land

And seeing the hourglass now so much clearer

Which someone had refilled by hand

And somewhere that boat's now adrift on the

Ocean

The mast at full sail and there's no one on board

The hourglass no longer sits by the ocean

Only his footprints all alone on the shore

And soon they're no more

No more

No more

Now our story's nearly over

And we've reached the final scene

But we're sure that some have wondered

What had happened in-between

From the moment when the boy was saved

And their boat had reached the shore

Well, they talked about life and death

And perhaps a little more

The boy said he'd been a stowaway

Aboard the "maersk dubai"

When the captain had him thrown to the sea

And left him there to die

At this the old sailor had stood up

His face now filled with rage

And swore that he would never rest

Until that captain had been caged

But the boy implored the sailor

That he not say a word

Because he was an illegal immigrant

And as of recently he'd heard

That going to the authorities

Could often be unwise

When one's paper were illegal

The police just might not sympathize

So when they reached the harbor

With their journey at an end

He left the boy on another ship

Whose captain was a friend

And when he saw it pull to sea

And was once more all alone

He leaned against the tiller

And turned his ship back home

Eventually he reached that beach

He'd left the night before

Then stepped a last time from the boat

And waded to the shore

Then the old man picked the glass up

That he had left behind

And headed for the small cafe

For it was nearly time

And the ocean watched him leaving

To find his lady fair

And as he left he heard her last words

Drifting in the air

That every man

Is born you see

Beneath the sword

Damocles

For young and old

Are all alive

On that next beat

On which we ride

And that beat is such

A fragile thing

In both old men

Or youthful king

And that beat

Stands all alone you see

Between us

And black eternity

And until that time

When death won't wait

Let each man rage

Against his fate