Empire Of Delight - Peter Hammill

Memory extends its empire

Holds the frame but blurs the line

Some other time invades the sense

A moment caught and lost, second sight

Suddenly I feel you near me

Worlds away and close as this

One stolen kiss upon my lips

And the moment slips away in mid-flight

So many years ago, and now it’s hard

To recall just what you meant to me

Still I wait, I’m patient

For the memory comes to me eventually

Here you are, and though you may soon be gone

Somehow the song still burns as bright

I felt it happen here tonight —

Here, in the empire of delight

Dream and ghost the world around me

You seem as real as ever you were…

But in a blur your breath on my cheek

Has gone and the evening come into night

So many years ago, and now it’s hard

To recall quite what you meant to me

Still I wait, impatient

Though the memory comes to me eventually

Here I am, forever caught up in this mystery

And then

That moment when the fire ignites —

I felt it happen here tonight

Here, in the empire of delight