The Bassist

Lawrence Salvador Duke: Vocals, Bass guitar

"The hand that signed the paper felled a city;

Five sovereign fingers taxed the breath,
Doubled the globe of dead and halved a country;
These five kings did a king to death.

The mighty hand leads to a sloping shoulder, 

The finger joints cramped with chalk; 

A goose's quill has put an end to murder 

That put an end to talk

The hand that signed the treaty bred a fever,
And famine grew, and locusts came;
Great is the hand that holds dominion over
Man by a scribbled name.

The five kings count the dead but do not soften

The crusted wound nor stroke the brow;

A hand rules pity as a hand rules heaven;

Hands have no tears to flow"

"The Hand That Signed the Paper" by Dylan Thomas
Sourced in "Miscellany" J M Dent and Sons 1963
Courtesy J M Dent and Sons Ltd, Aldine House, London
Photographs courtesy of Ed Sprake 2012
Studio shot courtesy Danny the Red 2011