Its 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,
Theres 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 ye going Lord, and why in such haste?
Now dont hinder me woman, Ive no time to waste!
For theyre launching a boat on the morrow at noon,
And I have to be there before daybreak.
Oh I canna be missing, the ladsll 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,
When 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.
Its a strange kind of beauty,
Its cold and austere,
And whatever it was that yeve done to be here,
Its the sum of yr hopes yr despairs and yr fears,
When the last ship sails.
Well the first to arrive saw these signs in the east,
Like that strange moving finger at Balthazars Feast,
Where they asked the advice of some wandering priest,
And the sad ghosts of men whom theyd thought long deceased,
And whatever got said, theyd be counted at least,
When 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 youd promised, whatever youve done,
And whatever the station in life youve become.
In the name of the Father, in the name of the Son,
And whatever the weave of this life that youve spun,
On the Earth or in Heaven or under the Sun,
When the last ship sails.