Cannon

Lyrics

Keep the rain off the touchhole.
Keep the match dry.

They dragged me through November mud
Three tons of dead, imported bronze
Twelve horses sinking in the ruts
To park me on these trampled lawns
They feed me cloth and charcoal meal
They stroke my flanks to clear the ash
The rammer sliding down the steel
Waiting for the sudden flash

But I am terrified of the pressure
I am afraid of the wake
Of the sulfur that expands in the dark
And the promise I cannot guarantee I won't break
I remember the heat of the foundry floor
I remember the cooling of the shell
And the tiny pocket of air in my left trunnion
While I am asked to hold back hell

The boy who holds the linstock stands too close
His hand reaches to prime me before his mind decides
He operates on muscle and a heavy dose
Of faith in the dark bronze of my sides
I batter down the monuments of kings
I turn the century to rust
But every time the slow match stings
I feel the microscopic fracture in my crust

'Cause I am terrified of the pressure
I am afraid of the wake
Of the chemistry that expands in the dark
And the promise I cannot guarantee I won't break
I remember the heat of the foundry floor
I remember the cooling of the shell
And the tiny pocket of air in my left trunnion
While I am asked to hold back hell

They think I am a dragon on a wheel
They pat my smoking barrel, they love the noise I make
But I am just a vessel of captured fire
And I know exactly how much I can take
Before the metal gets tired.
Oh, the metal gets so tired.

So sponge me out and pack the bore.
But step away from the wheel.
I don't want to take you with me
When the casting fails.