the roll of distant thunder breaks the afternoon of silence wakes they hurry through from petergate as if they know this dance in fury blind i drive at night across the moors the open roads beneath the freezing starry skies racing in some trance these cities are illusions of some triumph over nature s laws we ve seen the iron carcass rust and buildings topple into dust and as the waters rise it seems we cling to all the rootless things the christian lies technology while spirits scream and sing oh god i love the world well i never said i was a clever man but i know enough to understand that the endless leaps and forward plans will someday have to cease you blind yourselves with comfort lies like lightning never strikes you twice and we laugh at your amazed surprise as the ark begins to sink this temple that is built so well to separate us from ourselves is a power grown beyond control a will without a face and watching from outside i wish that i could wash my hands of this but we are locked together here this bittersweet embrace oh god i love the world and if one day the final fire explodes across the whitened sky i know you ve said you d rather die and make it over fast with courage from your bravest friends waiting outside for the end with no bitterness but an innocence that i can t seem to grasp i know somehow i will survive this fury just to stay alive so drunk with sickness weak with pain i can walk the hills one last time scarred and smiling dying slow i ll scream to no one left at all i told you so i told you so i told you so oh god i love the world