Behind the walls, where heat lightning falls
On five-starred map-faced princes
The buffalo man shoots at tin cans
Turns and shouts 'Children, blow your bridges'
In death row halls, where dust men stall
For time's an enemy and a friend
At night, jackals crawl from the cracks in the walls
The salvation is never spoken

Morning sickness breaks the garrison gates
The cavalry cries for treason
The soldier strokes his pony
And goes to shine the Captain's sword
In this young boy's eyes lie reason

But then the Sergeant burst in, says
"Captain, I caught a prisoner, Captain A prisoner, what ho?
The Captain looks up and says, 'Let her go"
'But Captain, she commands the lightships that patrol the sea around the rainbow tips
Whose bagpipes wail unbroken
She haunts the night and the dawn and the light
On her sounds and words, your cavalry's choking'
The Captain says, 'Have no fear, boys, for what you hear
Because danger can't be spoken'

The war wind crackles and I hear the rustle of shackles
From the stockade door bursts Merlin
His eyes red and swollen, like they've been pushed into the sun
His robe's aflame and burning
He jumps a horse, tries to get away, but gets caught in his irons,
Tangled in his irons, and he falls to the ground, his neck was broken
His spirit rises high into the western sky
The magician lies an empty token

The sergeant walks over and kicks his body and says
"Captain, he's dead, uh, I think he's dead, uh, what should we do with him?'
The Captain says, 'Hang him'
For those live moments on this earth are well-spent
And I can see his body sure well-bent
It's his magic that must be broken
-ac