A Gap In The Night (The Tangent)

For Neal who found what he searched, From one who searched and found something entirely different I. Ante-Room And in the REM movement, reality restores, A harsh-edged ambiance moves in, Kicks me out the bedroom door Adventuring in the real world, Of substance, time and change Turn off the gap! Forget the gap! II. Time For You III. Troubled Awakenings Where is this place that I see here? What is is this place? From whence this fear? This is not my world Whose is this room that I sit in? Whose is the light that shines so dim? This is not my world What am I doing here at all? If I look down will I fall? These thoughts cross my mind as… I burn the midnight lamp As I sit in my tiny room IV. The Inanimate Object Conspiracy Something's wrong with the inanimate! The furniture is crowding in… The ceiling swins on a pendulum, Opens up onto a world that lies within Buildings that rise up and claw at the sky, Shatter the blue and cry out in the night Sucking me upwards into the fright and hell of this dream The labyrinth is oh, so personal, I'm caught up in my own esteem, Questioning the real environment, As though I were the only object in its beam Falling through space in a gap in the night My body is torn through a sleep in the heights Of oblivion and intrigue, And a consuming passion to know who I am V. The Street Light Watershed Here in the half light the orange streetbulbs cast, Through the curtains of my room, I wait for the morning, As if somehow that will change all my negative thoughts But this is not me, this is not who I am It's just an echo of my former self, Escaping through the log-jam Caught by the upsurge, I feel self-pity crawl my body like a fever, I'm stuck here at square one, The all-time-loser who never fills the coupon in This is not me This is not how I am It's just an echo of my former self Escaping through the log-jam When I feel the power, I know that it's time to start The pen runs before me Leads me deep to the heart VI. This Is Not The End Of The World (But You Can See It From Here) If I wait for an eternity will I ever find the truth? If I search a hundred years or more Will I ever solve the questions of my youth? Won't someone believe me? Won't somebody take away the pain from this frame? It's no game, you can see the end of the world on a clear day VII. The Gap Yawns, The Orchestra Goes Doo-Lally VIII. The Ante-Room (Part II) And in the REM movement, reality restores, A harsh-edged ambiance moves in, Kicks me out the bedroom door Adventuring in the real world, Of substance, time and change Turn off the gap! Forget the gap! I am fugitive in the waking world A nomad caught under ice, With all the buzzing lines around me, Where each second has its price, And the seconds turn to hours The hours turn to lives And I live through a thousand each night Before the daylight finally arrives And I know that the daytime is just a gap in the night I'm tired and not ready for the fight Turn off the gap! And nobody says who I'm living, or Whose eyes I'm seeing through, The actions so unforgiving and I can't crawl back to you I'm tired of fighting an unrelenting force I'm tired and searching for a course to steer, In my flimsy boat of reeds Trying in vain to cross a surging, stormy sea, Of self-conscious analysis IX. The Gap In The Night