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Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart Driving away to the east, and into the past History recedes in my rear-view mirror Carried away on a wave of music down a desert road Memory humming at the heart of a factory town All my life I’ve been workin’ them angels overtime Riding and driving and living So close to the edge Workin’ them angels – Overtime Riding through the Range of Light to the wounded city Filling my spirit with the wildest wish to fly Taking the high road to the wounded city Memory strumming at the heart of a moving picture All this time I’ve been working …

Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart The snakes and arrows a child is heir to Are enough to leave a thousand cuts We build our defenses, a place of safety And leave the darker places unexplored Sometimes the fortress is too strong Or the love is too weak What should have been our armor Becomes a sharp and angry sword Our better natures seek elevation A refuge for the coming night No one gets to their heaven without a fight We hold beliefs as a consolation A way to take us out of ourselves Meditation, or medication A comfort, or a promised reward Sometimes that spirit is …

Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart Pariah dogs and wandering madmen Barking at strangers and speaking in tongues The ebb and flow of tidal fortune Electrical changes are charging up the young It’s a far cry from the world we thought we’d inherit It’s a far cry from the way we thought we’d share it You can almost feel the current flowing You can almost see the circuits blowing One day I feel I’m on top of the world And the next it’s falling in on me I can get back on I can get back on One day I feel I’m ahead of the wheel And …

Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart LONG AGO I READ A STORY FROM ANOTHER TIMELINE about a character named Candide. He also survived a harrowing series of misadventures and tragedies, then settled on a farm near Constantinople. Listening to a philosophical rant, Candide replied, “That is all very well, but now we must tend our garden.” I have now arrived at that point in my own story. There is a metaphorical garden in the acts and attitudes of a person’s life, and the treasures of that garden are love and respect. I have come to realize that the gathering of love and respect – from others and …

Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart VICTIMIZED, BEREAVED, AND DISAPPOINTED, SEEMINGLY AT EVERY TURN, I still resist feeling defeated, or cynical. I have come to believe that anger and grudges are burning embers in the heart not worth carrying through life. The best response to those who wound me is to get away from them – and wish them well. All that you can do is wish them well All that you can do is wish them well Spirits turned bitter by the poison of envy Always angry and dissatisfied Even the lost ones, the frightened and mean ones Even the ones with a devil inside Thank …

Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart THOSE FATEFUL WORDS, “What do you lack?” spark an inner monologue about all that I have lost. No more boundless optimism, no more faith in greater powers, too much pain, too much grief, and too much disillusion. Despite all that, I realize the great irony that although I now believe only in the exchange of love, even that little faith follows the childhood reflex that “I was brought up to believe.” I was brought up to believe Belief has failed me now The bright glow of optimism Abandoned me somehow Belief has failed me now Life goes from bad to worse …

Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart THINKING BACK OVER MY LIFE, AND TELLING STORIES ABOUT MY “GREAT ADVENTURES” – they didn’t always feel that grand at the time. But on balance, I wouldn’t change anything. In the words of one of our great alchemists, Friedrich Gruber, “I wish I could do it all again.” All the journeys Of this great adventure It didn’t always feel that way I wouldn’t trade them Because I made them The best I could And that’s enough to say Some days were dark I wish that I could live it all again Some nights were bright I wish that I could live …

Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart NARROWLY ESCAPING A FROZEN DEATH IN THAT DESERT, I made my way back to Poseidon, and found a berth on a homeward ship. Caught in a terrible storm, we seemed to find salvation in an unexpected signal light. Steering toward it, we soon learned it was false – placed by the denizens to lure ships to their doom on the jagged reefs. They plundered the cargos and abandoned the crews and passengers to the icy waves. I was the only survivor. The breakers roar on an unseen shore In the teeth of a hurricane We struggle in vain A hellish night …

Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart THE LEGEND HAD PASSED DOWN FOR GENERATIONS. Far across the Western Sea, where the steamliners could not fly, lay a wilderness land hiding seven cities of gold. I dared the crossing on one of the stout ships that followed the trade route to Poseidon, a tough port city. I worked there for a while on the steamliners that served the alchemy mines, then eventually set out into the Redrock Desert. The stones were sculpted into unearthly monuments, and the country grew cold as I traveled north in search of the most famous City of Gold: Cíbola. Its name had sounded in …

Music: Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson Lyrics: Neil Peart I HAD FALLEN HELPLESSLY IN LOVE with one of the performers. She was so different from “the girl I left behind,” and I was beginning to understand I had only pretended she was right for me. I pursued my beautiful acrobat obsessively until she let me be with her – then I suffered her rejection and contempt. Once again, I had created an ideal of the perfect soulmate, and tried to graft it onto her. It didn’t fit. Such illusions have colored my whole life. What did I see? Fool that I was A goddess, with wings on her heels All …