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.