Peter Hammill Rubicon

I lay down beside you : I am a unicorn, you a virginal maid,

and I come in laughing play ----

but, maybe, to be saved.

Peer through the backcloth : I am a character in the play,

the words I slur are pre-ordained ----

we know them anyway.

Don't change your mind, don't be a fickle friend;

don't change your mind, don't pretend

to something false.

Open the toy-box : you are Pandora, I am the World.

If you cross the stream, you never can return;

If you stay, you'll surely burn.

Don't change your mind, don't come all orchid eyes;

don't change your mind, don't disguise the fear

you feel :

it's real, and you must

guard your castle well, for I am the lone wolf,

and the boar at bay -----

grant me your Pax, you know we only live today,

and on, and on, and into :

"so Long" -- it takes so long to drown;

it takes so very long to choke on the taste you'd spurned.

If you cross the stream you never can return;

If you stay you'll surely burn.