Rooks - Shearwater

When the rooks were laid in the piles by the sides of the road

Crashing into the aerials

Tangled in the laundry lines

And gathered in a field

They were burned in a feathering pyre

With their cold black eyes

When the swallows fell from the eaves

And the gulls from the spires

The starlings, in millions

Would feed on the ground where they lie

The 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 paralyzed

Oh, 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 bell

Underneath these cold stars

In this trembling light

And he cries Amen, let their kingdom come tonight

Let this dream be realized

And we’ll sleep until the world of man is paralyzed