Cold iron rails and a gray canal
Lost in the fog like a broken spell
I feel the frost on my brassy skin
Waiting for someone to let me in.
Ticking away in the winter haze
Counting the hours and the lonely days
Locked in a circle of gold and rust
Turning the seconds to velvet dust.
A heavy coat and a leather glove
Dropped by a man who had lost his love
He left me here by the bridge of stone
Watching the water all on my own.
Ticking away in the winter haze
Counting the hours and the lonely days
Locked in a circle of gold and rust
Turning the seconds to velvet dust.
The barges roll with a heavy sound
Low in the water and muddy brown
The mist is thick like a wooly sheet
Covering cobbles and empty street.
Spring will bring the tulip bloom
Breaking through the winter gloom
But I am frozen in one place
Searching for a familiar face.
My gears are slow and my spring is tight
Holding the ghost of a vanished light
I keep the beat of a dead man's heart
Tearing the fabric of time apart.
Ticking away in the winter haze
Counting the hours and the lonely days
Locked in a circle of gold and rust
Turning the seconds to velvet dust.
The moon is white as a bleached out bone
Sinking deep in the river zone
I wait for fingers to wind my key
And set this ticking machinery free.
Ticking away in the winter haze
Counting the hours and the lonely days
Locked in a circle of gold and rust
Turning the seconds to velvet dust.
The silver tick, the silver tick.
Just a silver tick.
(Humming fades)
