All This Time

I looked out across

The river today,

I saw a city in the fog and an old church tower

Where the seagulls play.

I saw the sad shire horses walking home

In the sodium light

I saw two priests on the ferry

October geese on a cold winter's night

And all this time, the river flowed

Endlessly to the sea.

Two priests came round our house tonight

One young, one old, to offer prayers for the dying

To serve the final rite,

One to learn, one to teach,

Which way the cold wind blows

Fussing and flapping in priestly black

Like a murder of crows

And all this time, the river flowed

Endlessly to the sea

If I had my way I'd take a boat from the river

And I'd bury the old man,

I'd bury him at sea

Blessed are the poor, for they shall inherit the earth

Better to be poor than a fat man in the eye of a needle

And as these words were spoken I swear I hear

The old man laughing,

'What good is a used up world, and how could it be

worth having'

And all this time the river flowed

Endlessly like a silent tear

And all this time the river flowed

Father, if Jesus exists,

Then how come he never lived here.

The teacher told us, the Romans built this place

They built a wall and a temple, an edge of the empire

Garrison town,

They lived and they died, they prayed to their gods

But the stone gods did not make a sound

And their empire crumbled, 'til all that was left

Were the stones the workmen found

And all this time the river flowed

In the falling light of a northern sun

If I had my way I'd take a boat from the river

Men go crazy in congregations

But they only get better One.