| The boy child is locked in the fisherman’s yard
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| There’s a bloodless moon where the oceans die
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| A shoal of nightstars hang fire in the nets
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| And the chaos of cages where the crayfish lie
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| Where is the fisherman, where is the goat?
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| Where is the keeper in his carrion coat?
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| Eclipse on the moon when the dark bird flies
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| Where is the child with his father’s eyes?
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| These are the soul cages These are the soul cages
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| He’s the king of the ninth world
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| The twisted son of the fog bells toll
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| In each and every lobster cage
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| A tortured human soul
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| These are the souls of the broken factories
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| The subject slaves of the broken crown
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| The dead accounting of old guilty promises
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| These are the souls of the broken town
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| These are the soul cages These are the soul cages
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| These are the soul cages These are the soul cages
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| 'I have a wager' the brave child spoke
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| The fisherman laughed, though disturbed at the joke.
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| 'You will drink what I drink but you must equal me And if the drink leaves me standing,
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| A soul shall go free'
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| 'I have here a cask of most magical wine
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| A vintage that blessed every ship in the line
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| It’s wrung from the blood of the sailors who died
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| Young white body adrift in the tide'
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| 'And what’s in it for me my pretty young thing?
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| Why should I whistle, when the caged bird sings?
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| If you lose a wager with the king of the sea
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| You’ll spend the rest of forever in the cage with me'
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| These are the soul cages These are the soul cages
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| These are the soul cages These are the soul cages
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| A body lies open in the fisherman’s yard
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| Like the side of a ship where the iceberg rips
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| One less soul in the soul cages
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| One last curse on the fisherman’s lips
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| These are the soul cages These are the soul cages
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| These are the soul cages These are the soul cages
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| Swim to the light Swim to the light
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| He dreamed of the ship on the sea
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| It would carry his father and he To a place they could never be found
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| To a place far away from this town
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| A Newcastle ship without coals
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| They would sail to the island of souls |