CapriUni: I was right about On the Border, it is mostly double meanings not metaphors.I found the words easily by searching for 'on the border Al stewart' on Google. Here is a blickie to the site: Al Stewart Lyrics
I think One the Border is on his album 'Time Passages', but not sure. Well worth a listen, IMHO.
F#mWords & Music Al Stewart (I believe)
The fishing boats go out across the evening water
D
Smuggling guns and arms across the Spanish border
Bm
The wind whips up the waves so loud
A G
The ghost moon sails a-mong the clouds
F#m E F#m
And turns the rifles into silver on the border
F#m
On my wall the colours of the maps are running
D
From Africa the winds they talk of changes coming
Bm
The torches flair up in the night
A G
The hand that sets the farms alight
F#m E F#m
Has spread the word to those who're waiting on the border
A Em
In the village where I grew up nothing seems the same
D A
Still you never see the change from day to day
D C# C# B A G#m F#m E F#m
No-one notices the customs slip away
F#m
Late last night the rain was knocking on my window
D
I moved across the darkened room and in the lampglow
Bm
I thought I saw down in the street
A G
The spirit of the century
F#m E F#m
Telling us that we're all standing on the border
A
In the islands where I grew up
Em
Nothing seems the same
D A
It's just the patterns that remain an empty shell
D C#
But there's a strangeness in the air you feel too well
C# B A G#m F#m E F#m
Repeat 1st verse, then end :
D F#m repeat to fade
On the border, on the border