Neil Peart
Canadian writer, lyricist, and drummer for the band Rush.
Faith is cold as ice.
Why are little ones born only to suffer
for the want of immunity, or a bowl of rice?
Well, who would hold a price on the heads of the innocent children
if there's some immortal power to control the dice?
-- Roll The Bones (1991)
The middle aged madonna
calls her neighbor on the phone.
Day by day, the seasons pass
and leave her life alone.
But she'll go walking out that door
on some bright afternoon
to go and paint big cities
from a lonely attic room.
-- Middletown Dreams (1985)
Miracles will have their claimers
More will bow to Rome
He and she are in the house
But there's only me at home.
-- Anagram (For Mongo) (1989)
Wave after wave
Will flow with the tide
And bury the world as it does
Tide after tide
Will flow and recede
Leaving life to go on
As it was...
-- Natural Science (1980)
How can anybody be enlightened?
Truth is after all so poorly lit
-- Turn The Page (1987)
Some are born to move the world, to live their fantasies
But most of us just dream about the things we'd like to be
Sadder still to watch it die, then never to have known it
For you, the blind who once could see
The bell tolls for thee...
-- Losing It (1982)
All the busy little creatures
chasing out their destinies.
Living in their pools
they soon forget about the sea...
-- Natural Science (1980)
...if the music stops and there's only the sound of the rain
All the hope and glory -- All the sacrifice in vain
(And) If love remains, though everything is lost
We will pay the price, but we will not count the cost
-- Bravado (1991)
You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill.
I will choose a path that's clear, I will choose free will.
-- Freewill (1980)
Like a steely blade in a silken sheath
We don't see what they're made of
They shout about love, but when push comes to shove
They live for the things they're afraid of
And the knowledge that they fear is a weapon to be used against them...
- The Weapon (Part II of 'Fear') (1982)
To you, is it movement, or is it action?
Is it contact or just reaction?
And you, revolution, just resistance?
Is it living, or just existence?
-- The Enemy Within (Part I of 'Fear') (1984)
Sometimes I freeze...until the light comes
Sometimes I fly...into the night
Sometimes I fight...against the darkness
Sometimes I'm wrong...sometimes I'm right
-- Freeze (Part IV of 'Fear') (2002)
Genius is the fire that lights itself. -Commenting on Buddy Rich.
The men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality, closer to the heart.
-- Closer To The Heart (1977)
The world weighs on my shoulders
But what am I to do?
You sometimes drive me crazy
But I worry about you
I know it makes no difference
To what you’re going through
But I see the tip of the iceberg
And I worry about you...
-- Distant Early Warning (1984)
I hear the sound of gunfire at the prison gate, Are the liberators here?
Do I hope or do I fear?
For my father and my brother, it’s too late but I must help my mother stand up straight.
Are we the last ones left alive?
Are we the only human beings to survive?
-- Red Sector A (1984)
Today is different, and tomorrow the same.
It's hard to take the world the way that it came.
Too many rapids keep us sweeping along.
Too many captains keep on steering us wrong.
It's hard to take the heat.
It's hard to lay blame.
To fight the fire, while we're feeding the flames.
-- Second Nature (1987)
A few guys with guns can spoil everything.
-- The Masked Rider ()
You don't get something for nothing
You can't have freedom for free.
You won't get wise
With the sleep still in your eyes
No matter what your dream might be.
-- Something for Nothing (1976)
Danger plus survival equals fun.
--From A Work in Progress