The roll of distant thunder breaks
The afternoon of silence wakes
They hurry through from Petergate
As if they know this danceIn fury blind, I drive at night across the moors
The open roads beneath the freezing starry skies
Racing in some tranceThese cities are illusions
Of some triumph over Nature's laws
We've seen the iron carcass rust
And buildings topple into dustAnd as the waters rise
It seems we cling to all the rootless things
The Christian lies, technology
While spirits scream and singOh God, I love the world
Well, I never said I was a clever man
But I know enough to understandThat the endless leaps and forward plans
Will someday have to cease
You blind yourselves with comfort lies
Like lightning never strikes you twiceAnd we laugh at your amazed surprise
As the Ark begins to sink
This temple that is built so well
To separate us from ourselvesIs 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 embraceOh 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 fastWith courage from your bravest friends
Waiting outside for the end
With no bitterness but an innocence
That I can't seem to graspI 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 timeScarred 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