The Undercover Man - Van Der Graaf Generator

Here at the glass —

All the usual problems, all the habitual farce

You ask, in uncertain voice

What you should do

As if there were a choice but to carry on

Miming the song

And hope that it all works out right

Tonight it all seems so strange —

My spirit feels rigid, my body deranged;

Still that’s only from one point of view

And we can’t have illusion between me and you

My constant friend, ever close at hand —

You and the undercover man

I reflect:

'It's very strange to be going through this change

With no idea of what it’s all been about

Except in the context of time…'

Oh, but I shirk it, I’ve half a mind not to work it all out

Is this madness just the recurring wave of total emotion

Or a hide for the undercover man

Or a litany — all the signs are there of fervent devotion —

Or the cracking of the dam?

It’s cracked;

smashed and bursting over you

There was no reason to expect such disaster

Now, panicking, you burst for air

Drowning, you know you care

For nothing and no-one but yourself

And would deny even this hand

Which stretches out towards you to help

But would I leave you in this moment of your trial?

Is it my fault that I’m here to see you crying?

These phantom figures all around you should have told you

You should have found out by now

If you hadn’t gone and tried to do it all by yourself

Even now we are not lost:

If you look out at the night

You’ll see the colours and the lights

Seem to say people are not far away

At least in distance

And it’s only our own dumb resistance

That’s making us stay

When the madness comes

Let it flood on down and over me sweetly

Let it drown the parts of me weak and blessed and damned

Let it slake my life, let it take my soul and living completely

Let it be who I am

There may not be time for us all to run in tandem together —

The horizon calls with its parallel lines

It may not be right for you to have and hold in one way forever

And yet you still have time

You still have time