it s all there in the gospels the magdalene girl comes to pay her respects but her mind is awhirl when she finds the tomb empty the stone had been rolled not a sign of a corpse in the dark and the cold when she reaches the door sees an unholy sight there s this solitary figure in a halo of light he just carries on floating past calvary hill in an almighty hurry aye but she might catch him still tell me where are you going lord and why in such haste now don t hinder me woman i ve no time to waste for they re launching a boat on the morrow at noon and i have to be there before daybreak oh i can not be missing the lads will expect me why else would the good lord himself resurrect me for nothing will stop me i have to prevail through the teeth of this tempest in the mouth of a gale may the angels protect me if all else should fail and the last ship sails oh the roar of the chains and the cracking of timbers the noise at the end of the world in your ears as a mountain of steel makes its way to the sea and the last ship sails it s a strange kind of beauty it s cold and austere and whatever it was that you ve done to be here it s the sum of your hopes your despairs and your fears and the last ship sails well the first to arrive saw these signs in the east like that strange moving finger at balthazar s feast where they asked the advice of some wandering priest and the sad ghosts of men whom they d thought long deceased and whatever got said they d be counted at least  and the last ship sails oh the roar of the chains and the cracking of timbers the noise at the end of the world in your ears as a mountain of steel makes its way to the sea and the last ship sails and whatever you d promised whatever you ve done and whatever the station in life you ve become in the name of the father in the name of the son and whatever the weave of this life that you ve spun on the earth or in heaven or under the sun and the last ship sails3