Late of conscience

Life hangs now before me
Some faint and hollow dream
Things I may remember
And some I haven't seen

Chivalry and valor
Have gone the way of pride
The tide is slowly turning
And there's nowhere left to hide

My thought turns to the common man
The lights gone from their eyes
Beneath their tattered robes
They hide the pieces of their lives

The time has changed from magic
To a world of human ways
An old magician wrings his hands
And begs for yesterday

Pull the knife out slowly lord
Let me join your alibi
With godliness on our side
Surely we can't tell a lie

Pull the knife out slowly lord
Let me revel in your pain
The sacrifice of progress
Will destroy all that remains

The sounds that still remind me
Of the voices of the past
The wind that blows behind me
And the shattering of glass

The days are surely numbered
And the hours growing long
The echoes fade behind me
Like some old forgotten song

Pull the knife out slowly lord
Let me join your alibi
With godliness on our side
Surely we can't tell a lie

Pull the knife out slowly lord
Let me revel in your pain
The sacrifice of progress
Will destroy all that remains

Days gone by forgotten
In ageless books and plays
The values of the ancients
Elude us to this day

A final word of warning
From the ashes of the past
What is put up in a hurry
Can surely never last

Pull the knife out slowly lord
Let me join your alibi
With godliness on our side
Surely we can't tell a lie

Pull the knife out slowly lord
Let me revel in your pain
The sacrifice of progress
Will destroy all that remains