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lyrics

Hour of the Pale Dog
February 2, 1992

1) Awakening

this is the hour of the pale dog
cool slayer in the night
a user of the political issues of the mad
bowing only to profit
hit man
leader in his pack of hounds
baying at the heals of anyone who tries to run
who try to escape his burning lands
he stands alone after the arbor
wine already in the fields
carrier of the dead

a man of two faces
across the border we find his other side
unknown to the hounds
standing in opposition to suppression
hunting within the oppressors
to aid their downfall
this is the hour of the pale dog

his tactics are simple enough
dig a trench under the razor wire
travel under the big gun
collect the bodies of the dead
spout a few stories of killing
another runner done

to the flighty he is hero
his life risked in their salvation
he knows the patrols
plots of the government
he watches the powers breed
each chance helps the unlucky
perhaps a conscience to spur him on

2) Enter Time Traveled

another earlier introduction to the pale dog
child growing up in cold darkness
living in a countryside no one trusts
family drawn with poverty
he sees them fed to the machine
he swears, on the name of the machine
he will b free

drafted unwittingly ten years later, he is armed
he learns the killing
forced into a pair of bloody wars
he watches the faces of those he must destroy
he is loosing his mind
unable to take the anguish of destroying his beliefs
he becomes an angel of the darkness
burrowing into his country’s clockwork
trying to find a way into the light

3) Performances

a look into the soul of the pale dog
one who must appear to be what he’s not
a destroyer
so he can be what he must

killed for them before
so they will not tell his tale
suffered their agonies a hundred times and more
he lives a present of nightmare
those he must help and those he must kill
distinctions waver, each night searching morgues
bodies to claim his own

is he doing the right thing
traitor to his country
he helps the ones in need he says
and this
as rebellion
is wrong
so the pattern of guilt goes by
for those he’s killed and his country
each night sleeping with a forty-five
round chambered so the enemy can’t take him

4) Resolution

each morning he rises
puts the gun to his head
counts ten
and does not pull the trigger
two pounds short of the seven pound will
he has casually flickered across a thousand times before
always for some right perception
but belief is so… transitory

each morning he puts the gun down
thinks a prayer for those he’s aided
that their lives may be better now
and the graves of the dead must remain undisturbed
he holds a hundred skeletons in his ballroom
each roll of the bones a favor to call
each buried body a tagged value

he knows where the leader died
and the leader before, where too
those seeking revenge
followed in the footsteps
knows of a thousand gassed as they slept
passive exhalations to his aim
the transitory better life, not of the moment
but of the ever

meanwhile, to survive
dogged on

5) Castaway

I know, time is running short for him
one plot and another’s bitter fruit
conscience catching up, age slowing down
his nowhere to turn a vacant emphasis upon correct action
will upon the lever growing ounce by patient ounce
one morning, when he reaches ten, surprised
a sound of thunder will pass him by
when actual right and actual harm counterbalance
the going on of going on
pale dog, pale dog
go on

credits

from Scattered Resistance v5 - Inluminal, released October 20, 2012

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Wetdryvac's Lair Weld, Maine

Wetdryvac is a consulting device, a musician, and a free will procedural ethicist. This makes for some seriously odd material from time to time, much of which is worked with here as Wetdryvac's Lair.

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