My friends and I were sailing down
To find out what the world's about
Driftwood, ships, and monuments
To how the young man beat his breast
And how his love is tied to d**h
See lily fronds like lace upon
The silver girl, her distant arms
The words that issued from her lips
A turn of phrase a parting gift
Like "You've done wrong in abandoning
Everyone and everything."
We'll meet again someday is the longest of the lines
That slip the hands of drowning men and go slowly with the tide
Somewhere there's a border town
I hardly ever mention now
Where young girls lock themselves inside
And claim they're never worth our time
Because the flesh is not divine
Because we're never satisfied
See empty chairs in Heaven high
A disembodied voice decries
Says "Of all the seething mess I've made
Nothing here is fit to save"
So I'll call for endless rain again
Could we have sailed
Off into
A better land
Two by two?