The Hourglass Lyrics

[Music & Words: Jon Oliva, Al Pitrelli, Paul O'Neill]

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

[1.]
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

[simultaneously - add a new stanza each second time]

[2.]
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

[3.]
Did you ever really want to
Did you ever really want to

[4.]
Lord, tell me how it will be
Lord, tell me how it will be

[all together]
Nothing more
Nothing more
Nothing...

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