Wild Swans

 Strange are the times, junta of the mind

Seized and sacked and bound

By invaders

Holy crosses fall, flags from Jerusalem's wall

And the clocks that keep running in circles

Take me back to a time

When all was easy sunshine

When we never faltered nor fell

Only down into sand

Take me back to the shore

Where the sea rushed corals

And all I did was lie on my back and floated

There must be a place like that

For you and me, my country Jack

Living free, sun on our backs

Birds through the sky somersaulting

There are ways and there are beasts

Making hay while others sleep

Inside the tree, the old knarled tree

Singing woodwork, woodwork for me

And out the woodwork

See them come

Like a stone that someone flung

Catapaulted, heaven vaulting

Wild swans, wild swans

See them skate on icey lake

See them make their last mistake

In the desert of the sun

Living as peasants for the holy one

There must be a time to fly

And there must be a time to die

When all your songs on earth are sung

That last will be your swan song

Wild swans, wild swans,

Through the grey clouds

To the land of song

In the heavens flying free

Wild swans I wish I could be

Give me life and give me joy

To always love and not destroy

This precious thing Earth's not a toy

That I can play with like a boy

I must be strong, must carry on

Through the heart land of the song

And sing on my tune of joy

Wild swans, wild swan