[Verse 1a] The dust dies down the hunt moves on The thundering hooves and the hounds are gone A pregnant peace descends upon The blithe bucolic game [Verse 1b] They sweep past in a swathe of red You'd swear blind no actual blood was shed And at the ditch they all stop dead Frozen in mid-frame [Chorus 1] See them now on chocolate boxes Once they've airbrushed out the fox's flight Quaint honour burning bright And our time will come again [Verse 2a] Your 'phone won't work far from the Green The masts are few and far between There's violence felt but seldom seen So red in tooth and claw [Verse 2b] So put away the guns and lamps Make sure that there are access ramps
And in case of rising damp Get sandbags for the floor [Chorus 2] Garden gnomes flying aspidistras Dangling rods at their Koi mistresses A pond as small as this With marvels yet untold [Middle] Look for new names in the churchyard Thousand-year-old yews on guard The chasm's short but still as wide Now they all insist on going inside [Chorus 3] Premium rates for the mausoleum Bury them where the poor can't see them hide Eternally cross-eyed Interred the wrong way round [Chorus 4] There's a fibre-optic raceway through which Data's running pure and true and cold The tide's too strong to hold The flood of fortune down