Level 42 - A Kinder Eye lyrics

In his widowed years of longing
In his windowed room of light
He lay the oil upon the canvas
Brought sweet memory to life
His speckled beard a brush of colour
His spotted hands both grace and speed
I was the boy who came with evening
To sweep his floors and bring his tea

To the world he was the Master
His landscapes filled the gallery halls
But now he painted only portrait's
Unframed upon his private walls
Subjects sitting-walking laughing in playful
Flight or soft refrain
A thousand forms and colours
But every face the same

Across the page (across the ages) the moving
Hand of history bleeds
For a kinder eye to see us, not as we are
But as we dream
A winter's night when I arrived there
He looked so tired and near the end
And as I cleaned his bench and brushes
I wished out loud to be like him
He said that art was only longing
Trying to do what can't be done
And though he'd signed a thousand paintings
Still he'd never finished one

As I finished up my sweeping
In his sleep he spoke her name
I looked again at all the portrait's
Each and every face the same
Not as she was in pain or sorrow
But in timeless beauty seen
As she served his noble dream

Across the page (across the ages) the moving
Hand of history bleeds
For a kinder eye to see us, not as we are
But as we dream