Rooks

When the rooks were laid in the piles

By the sides of the road

Crashing into the aerials

Tangled in the laundry linesAnd gathered in a field

They were burned in a feathering pyre

With their cold black eyesWhen the swallows fell from the eaves

And the gulls from the spires

The starlings, in millions

Would feed on the ground where they lieThe ambulance men said

There's nowhere to flee for your life

So we stay inside

And we'll sleep until the world of man is paralyzedOh, the falconer awakes to the sound of the bells

Overhead and southbound

They are leaving his life

And each empty cage just rings in his heart like a bellUnderneath these cold stars

In this trembling light, and he cries

Amen, let their kingdom come tonight

Let this dream be realized