This Old Dark Machine

Spring it came upon us,

Every insect filled the air

Dropped their wings upon my brother,

Cast their shadows on his hair

If we follow where they're leading,

We will surely come before

Some unseen and wondrous magic

Made of visions to explore

Near the town where we were living

Lay an old abandoned farm

Every year we'd plant an orchid

In the shelter of its arm

To protect us from the madness

Of the future still to come

It will be like this forever

It will keep us safe from harm

Then they caught us in the summer

Dressed in father's finest clothes

You the hat he wore to market

I the jacket filled with holes

I've been searching all these hours

For a hand as pale as bone

That would keep the strongest sunlight

And reflect the brightest stone

Near the town where we were living

Was a warm and fragrant smell

Of that orchid we had planted

Now a forest tall and well

What a statue to our greatness

What a story all will tell

They'll remember us forever

They'll remember where we fell

This old dark machine, it shakes and it shudders

Pulls to the left, then dies near the gutter

But still in the road, the traffic is silent

The people they stare, and then they turn violent

If they should touch, the hem of your dress

I would rise like a lion, strike out again

The faithful they wait, the faithful they wait

By the sign

Near the town where we were living

Came a loud and joyous sound

As the earth and all her beauty

Picked us up from off the ground

Carried far across the mountain

To a kingdom never bound

We will live like this forever

I will love you

I will love you

I will love you