The Return of the Final Church

Beside the withering waters of
Hithering withering waters of
Night

In the moonlight
By the sea
In a country
In a town
Now quickly
Now slowly
Now in pain
Now in love

In different shapes
When I was young
When I was young
I used to dream
And the wind blows
And the owl sings
And dogs are driven wild
And dogs break their chains
And run through the lands
A prey to madness
With wild eyes dying
With wild eyes burning
They raise their heads
They swell their cold necks
Like a cat that's ripped its guts
Like a hungry child's breath
Like a woman about to give birth
Like a young girl singing
At the stars in the north
At the stars in the south
At the stars in the west
At the stars in the east
At the moon
At the mountains
At the rocks
At the pain
At the thief
At the snakes

Reveal their black black backs
Fresh flesh
Glazed eyes stare
From long pale human faces
We cannot satisfy the hopes
We are now dead
We are all dead

The hammer breaks the anvil

From the cleft of its hood
It was fair as morning and full of heaven dew
Then it put on darkness declined its softness
And put on th symptoms of its sickly age
It bowed its head and broke its stalk
It lost its leaves and all its beauty
Falling to weeds and unknown faces
Of man and woman
The black heritage
Of worms and serpents
Rottenness
And cold discharge
Out beauty is now so changed
My friends

By violence and secret influence
The aspect of a star and the stink of a mist
By emissions of a cloud
The meeting of a vapour

By the fall of a chariot and the stumbling at a stone
By a full meal or an empty stomach
By watching at wine or by watching at prayers
By the sun or the moon
By a heat or a cold
By sleepless nights or sleeping days
By water frozen
To the hardness of a dagger
Or water thawed into the floods of a river
By a hair or a current
By violent motion
By sitting still
Or severely
By dissolution
By God's mercy
Or God's anger

We take pains to heap up things useful to our life
And get our deaths in the purchase and the person is
Snatched away and the goods remain and all this is
The law and constitution of nature unveiled it is a
Punishment to our sins

The unalterable event of providence and the decree of
Heaven