A Louse Is Not a Home

 A#  F    Gm    D#   D          
Sometimes it's very scary here; 
 A#  F    Gm    D#   D
sometimes it's very sad
 D#  Gm   D#  F             Gm  
Sometimes I think I'll 
   D#  F    Gm  D#   D
disappear; be_times I think I have
  D#       F     Gm     D#    D
There's a line snaking down my 
mirror
  D#         F    Gm  D#     D
Splintered glass distorts my face
D#    Gm     D#  F             
And though the light is strong 
        Gm
and strange
D#  F                    
It can't illuminate the musty 
Gm    D#             D
corners of this place
  D#        F           
There is a lofty, lonely, 
                          Gm  D#  D
Lohengrenic castle in the clouds
  D#          F   Gm  D#        
[Yes and ]I draw my  murky 
     D
meanings there
 D#  Gm           D#   F        
But seven years' dark luck is 
     Gm
just around the corner
D#           F           Gm    
And in the shadows lurks the 
D#    D
spectre of Despair

Dm
A cracked mirror mid the drapes of 
the landing
C
Split image, labored understanding
A#                          A    
I'm only trying to find a place 
           Dm
to hide my home

( Dm  C  Dm  Dm  C )
( Dm  Dm  C  D )
( G  Am  C  Am )
( G  Am  C  D  Am )

G     Am       C              
I've lived in houses composed of 
Am
glass
G     Am     C      D     Am
Where every movement is charted
G    Am      C              Am
But now the monitor screens are dark
G   Am               C     D   
And I can't tell if silent eyes
       Am
 are there

G   Am        C                Am
My words are spiders upon the page
G     Am        C      D        Am
They spin out faith, hope and reason
G    Am       C                 
But are they meet and just, or 
     D        C      D
only dust gathering about my
chair?

A#                   A
Sometimes I get the feeling that 
there's
               Dm
Someone else there
Dm
The faceless watcher [he] makes me 
uneasy
C
I can feel him through the 
floorboards, and His presence is 
creepy
A#                 A       
He informs me that I shall be 
      Dm
expelled

 Dm
What is that but out of and into
 C
[I] don't know the nature of the 
door that I'd go through
 Am                             
[I] don't know the nature of the 
                    A#
nature that I am inside

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G     Am       C              
I've lived in houses of brick and 
Am
lead
G     Am       C      D     Am
Where all emotion is sacred
G     Am       C              Am
And if you want to devour the fruit
G     Am       C       
You must first sniff at the 
D      Am
fragrance

G     Am       C              Am
And lay your body before the shrine
G     Am       C       D      Am
With poems and posies and papers
G     Am       C              
Or, if you catch the ruse, you'll 
Am
have to choose
C            D        C      D
To stay, a monk, or leave, a vagrant

 A#                 A
What is this place you call home?
Dm
Is it a sermon or a confession?
C
Is it the chalice that you use for 
protection?
A#                  A
Is it really only somewhere you can 
stay?
Dm
Is it a rule-book or a lecture?
C
Is it a beating at the hands of your
 Protector?
A#                  A
Does the idol have feet of clay?

Dm
Home is what you make it, so my 
friends all say
C                              
But dont't you know I rarely see 
         Bm
their homes in these dark days
Dm
Some of them are snails and carry 
houses on their backs
C                          Bm
Others live in monuments which, one 
day, will be racks
Dm         C              
I keep my home in place with 
                  A#         (G  
sellotape and tin-tacks
A  A#)

A#                      Am       
But I still feel there's some 
          Dm
other Force here
F                        Em
He who cracks the mirrors and moves 
the walls
Dm
Keeps staring through the eye-slits 
of the portraits in my hall
F                          Em
He ravages my library and taps the 
telephone

Dm
I've never actually seen Him
But I know He's in my home
D#         F
And if he goes away
Gm        D#      D
I can't stay here either
D#  F             Gm  D#       
I believe - er - I think - 
           D     D#
well, I don't know

I only live in one room at a time
But all of the walls are ears, [and]
 all the windows, eyes
Everything else is foreign
'Home' is my wordless chant
Mmmmmaah
Give it a chance

G     Am       C              Am
I am surrounded by flesh and bone
G     Am     C     D     Am
I am a temple of living
G     Am       C        Am
I am a hermit, I am a drone
G     Am      C        D      Am
And I am boning out a place to be

G     Am       C              Am
With secret garlands about my head
G     Am     C     D    Am
Unearthly silence is broken
G     Am       C              
The room is growing dark, and in the
Am
 stark light
C      D     C      D
I can see a face I know

A#                 A         
Could this be the guy who never 
     Dm
shows
Dm
The cracked mirror what he's feeling
C
Merely mumbles prayers to the ground
 where he's kneeling
A#
 Home is home is home is home is  
home is
A                                 
House is house is house is] home 
  Dm
is me
Dm
All you people looking for your 
houses
C
Don't throw your weight around, you 
might break your glasses
 A#                  A         
And if you do, you know you just 
        Dm
can't see

Dm
And then how are you to find the 
dawning of the day?
C                         Bm
- Day is just a word I use to keep 
the dark at bay
Dm
And people are imaginary, nothing 
else exists
C
Except the room I'm sitting in
         Bm
And, of course, the all-pervading 
mist
Dm           C                   
Sometimes I wonder if even that's
A#       (Em  C) Dm
 real

D#  F  Em  D#     D
Maybe I should de-louse this place
D#  F  Em  D#                 D
Maybe I should de-place this louse
D#  Gm  D#    F              Gm
Maybe  I'll maybe my life away
D#      F       Gm       D#   D
In the confines of this silent house
 D#  F   Gm  D#        D        
Sometimes   it's very scary 
  D#  F   Gm  D#  D
here; sometimes   it's very sad
 D#  Gm   D#  F              Gm 
Sometimes I think I'll 
   D#  F    Gm  D#D
disappear; sometimes I think