Cathedrals

I went down to the Cathedral of War

As the generals' service was ending

And I asked a general "What is the point?"

"Cause it looked like a game of pretending

And he frowned and sputtered and stamping his foot

Said "Young Woman, it's no game at all"

And his words were all daggers and knives

And the look in his eyes was a terrible wall

I went down to the Cathedral of Time

To pray for a better tommorow

And I lit a candle to burn at both ends

Just to light up my chasm of sorrow

And the minutes and seconds were scattered about

But they kept slipping right through my hands

And the tide washed them into the past

Flowing out of a castle of hourglass sands

I went down to the Cathedral of Song

To polish the trumpets of treason

And I stood in the aisle and answered the call

Of a songbird who sang out of season

And I shouted of honor and beauty and truth

In the eyes of each woman and man

And I spoke of the gifts we are blind to in youth

Which we find at the heart of the Plan

I went down to the Cathedral of Death

But the Well of the Souls had run dry

And I knelt with the penitents praying and pale

And I stood with the ghost of a sigh

And the carousel horses and caravan gypsies

Were dancing away out the door

And the honey of hope fell in strings

From the tips of my fingers and dropped on the floor

I never go to Cathedrals at all

Or at least any more than I must

And I know when my moment of dancing is done

I'll dissolve into starlight and dust

And the lessons I've learned

Will be lost in the night

And my heart will lie empty and cold

But the love that I give will live on

Like the light of a dawn made of amber and gold