Lyrics The Soul Cages - Sting

The boy child was locked in the fisherman's yard
A bloodless moon where the oceans die
A shoal of night stars hang fire in the nets
And the chaos of cages where the crayfish lie

Where is the fisherman? Where is the goat?
Where is the keeper in his carrion coat?
Eclipse on the moon when the dark bird flies
Where is the child with his father's eyes?

He's the king of the ninth world
Twisted son of the fog bells toll
In each and every lobster cage
A tortured human soul

These are the souls of the broken factories
Subject slaves of the broken crown
Dead accounting of old guilty promises
These are the souls of the broken town

These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages

"I'll have a wager", the brave child spoke
The fisherman laughed, though disturbed at the joke
"You will drink what I drink, but you must equal me
If the drink leaves me standing
A soul should go free"

I'll have here a cask of most magical wine
A vintage that blessed every ship in the line
It's wrung from the blood of the sailors who died
Young white bodies adrift in the tide

What's in it for me, my pretty young thing?
Why should I whistle, when the caged bird sings?
If you lose a wager with the king of the sea
You'll spend the rest of forever in the cage with me

These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages

A body lies open in the fisherman's yard
Like the side of a ship where the iceberg rips
One less soul in the soul cages
One last curse on the fisherman's lips

These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages
These are the soul cages

And he dreamed of the ship on the sea
It would carry his father and he
To a place they could never be found
To a place far away from this town
A new castle ship without coals
They would sail to the island of souls

These are the soul cages (these are the soul cages)
These are the soul cages (these are the soul cages)
These are the soul cages (these are the soul cages)
These are the soul cages (these are the soul cages)
These are the soul cages