[Music & Words: Jon Oliva, Al Pitrelli, Paul O'Neill]

Stands all alone
Looks in the mirror
And sees what she wanted to be

Safely unknown

To anyone near her
She sees what she wanted to see
And turns to me
And turns to me

And turns to...

She was prophesied
For an early slide
Followed it to the letter

Well kept beauty queen
If there, always seen
Still you thought she'd know better

No erasing

The time you're wasting
But when you're wasting

You don't care

All those pieces
In short term leases
But when you need them

They're not there

For all those moments of yesterday
She's traded every tomorrow
And now all those moments are so far away
Ghosts haunt each word she would say

As she walks among the decay

She had Oscar Wilde's

Timeless sense of style
As had been her intention

Still she was afraid
Time must be repaid

And there'd be no redemption

Youth and time collide
She could not decide
On a certain direction

Time was catching up
Carefully made up

She avoided detection

For all those moments of yesterday
She's traded every tomorrow
And now all those moments are so far away
I saw it too
Closer than you
What else is there left to say

Wait for me now
I will be there for you
This I will vow

If you still want me to

But it won't be
This I have always known
And in the dark
There's no one to pray for me now

I don't understand what I'm feeling tonight
I don't understand but I'm waiting
Searching the shadows that fade in the light
But I'm feeling alive
Trying to survive
Float with the tide
Till you arrive and I...

SO HE NOW TURNED TO THE OCEAN
SAYING IT WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE
AND THE OCEAN NEVER SAID A WORD
THOUGH IN TRUTH SHE DISAGREED

AND ON THE SAND BEFORE HIM
WHILE THE WAVES BROKE GENTLY WHITE
THE OCEAN LISTENED CAREFULLY
AS HE TOLD HER OF HIS LIFE

I HAVE BEEN AROUND THE WORLD
I'VE PURSUED THE MOON IN FLIGHT
I HAVE READ THE WORDS OF SHAKESPEARE
BY A MIDNIGHT ARCTIC LIGHT

I HAVE RUN BETWEEN THE DRAGON'S TEETH
AND LIVED TO TELL THE TAIL
I HAVE DANCED ACROSS A STARDUST SKY

AND NEVER LEFT A TRAIL

I'VE SEEN THINGS FEW COULD IMAGINE
AND I NEVER WILL FORGET
BUT I'VE NEVER HAD A FAMILY

AND THIS I DO REGRET

NOW ALL I'VE LOVED HAVE GONE BEFORE ME
AND OF THE FUTURE I HAVE GREAT DOUBTS
AND THOUGH IT SEEMS I STILL HAVE TIME LEFT
I NOW FEEL TIME I CAN DO WITHOUT

AND I HAVE WONDERED TO MYSELF
WHY SHOULD DEATH SET ITS OWN TIME
IS IT JUST A FINAL JEST FROM FATE
TO ADD ONTO HER OTHER CRIMES?

FOR I HAVE NO WISH TO WAIT AROUND
WHILE ALL MY SENSES FADE
AND ONE BY ONE RETURN THE GIFTS
THAT YOUTH SO FREELY GAVE

WIRED TO SOME COLD MACHINE
THAT MAPS MY EVERY BREATH
AND SIGNALS AT THE PROPER TIME
LESS THEY SHOULD MISS MY DEATH

AND ALL THIS SERVICE I SUSPECT
IS LESS DONE BY GOODWILL
THAN BY THE FEAR THAT THEY SHOULD MISS
A FINAL CHANCE TO BILL

SO I'VE DECIDED TO LEAVE THIS WORLD
AND HAVE DEVISED A PLAN
TO SAIL TO SEA IN A SMALL BOAT
WELL OUT OF SIGHT OF LAND

TO SAIL ONCE MORE UPON THE DEEP
LIKE A VIKING TO HIS RESTING PLACE
THEN SLIP FOREVER NEATH THE WAVES
AN EXIT WITH SOME GRACE

AND THE SHIP SHALL BE MY COFFIN
ON THIS LAST VOYAGE THAT I TAKE
AND MY TRAIL LEFT THROUGH THE WATER
WILL BE MY FINAL WAKE

I HAVE DONE MORE THAN THOUGHT ABOUT THIS
ON MY LIFE I'VE CLOSED EVERY DOOR
I HAVE LEFT A WILL BESIDE MY BED
AND THE BOAT IS THERE OFFSHORE

AND ALL I ASK IS YOUR ASSISTANCE
WHEN THAT SHIP IS WELL AWAY FROM THE LAND
THAT YOU SEND A STORM TO EMBRACE US
AND TAKE US GENTLY IN YOUR HAND

WHEN HE HAD FINISHED SPEAKING
SOME POINTS THE OCEAN DID CONCEDE
BUT WHEN HE SAID HIS FINAL WORD
SHE ONCE MORE DISAGREED

I'LL THINK ABOUT THIS IF I MAY
I NEED NOT RUSH THE TIDE
FOR IN THIS WORLD OF TOO LITTLE TIME
THERE'S ALWAYS TIME TO DIE

YOU SEEM SO EAGER TO END THIS LIFE
AND WITH YOUR DEATH TO DANCE
THAT YOU IGNORED HIS PUTRID BREATH
NOW PERFUMED WITH ROMANCE

THE SAILOR SAID YOU CANNOT UNDERSTAND
THE NEEDS OR WANTS OF MEN
SO I'LL ASK YOU ONCE MORE FOR YOUR HELP
AND I SHALL NOT ASK AGAIN

THEN THE OCEAN PULLED HER WAVES BACK
AND BECKONED HIM STAND NEAR
AND WHEN HE HAD STEPPED CLOSER
SHE WHISPERED IN HIS EAR

THAT EVERY MAN

IS BORN YOU SEE
BENEATH THE SWORD

DAMOCLES

FOR YOUNG AND OLD
ARE ALL ALIVE
ON THAT NEXT BEAT

ON WHICH WE RIDE

AND THAT BEAT IS SUCH
A FRAGILE THING
IN BOTH OLD MEN
OR YOUTHFUL KING

AND THAT BEAT

STANDS ALL ALONE YOU SEE

BETWEEN US

AND BLACK ETERNITY

AND THOUGH DEATH IS SURELY

EACH MAN'S FATE
UNTIL THAT TIME

LET EACH MAN WAIT

SO BE CAREFUL AS YOU GO THROUGH LIFE
WHAT YOU ROMANTICIZE
I FIND SUCH THINGS ARE RARELY TRUE
AND FAR MORE RARELY WISE

THE SAILOR THEN LISTENED CAREFULLY
AND EVERY THOUGHT WAS FILED
AND THOUGH HE WAS STILL NOT QUITE CONVINCED
HE AGREED TO WAIT AWHILE

AND MEANWHILE FURTHER DOWN THE BEACH
THERE STOOD A YOUNGER MAN
AND HE TOO FELT THE SAND OF TIME
WAS RUNNING THROUGH HIS HANDS

BUT THIS YOUTH FELT THEY RAN TOO FAST
AS HE STOOD NEAR A RUSTING DOCK
AND HEARD THE WAVES MARKING TIME
LIKE SOME RELENTLESS CLOCK

HE FELT HIS FUTURE WAS NOT HERE
OF THIS HE HAD NO DOUBT

AND EVEN THOUGH HE WAS EIGHTEEN
HIS TIME WAS RUNNING OUT