We sail we sleep we scry by land
We dig a pit beneath the sand
A place to keep the sun at bay
At dark we rise and find our way
With our faithful companion by our side
Put it all on the table and let it ride
Close to the dropoff on our long slide1
The land we left becomes a dream
The ghosts we knew, they rise like steam
They leave some trails against the sky
All but invisible to the eye
With our faithful companion by our side
Put it all on the table and let it ride
Close to the dropoff on our long slide
Call off the search party,
Let mourners wail by the shore
Point to the spot where our ship disappeared
We're not coming home any more
Should you succeed and breach the coast
You tell your friends you've seen a ghost
You tell them all there's nothing here worth dying for
You leave it there
With our faithful companion by our side
Put it all on the table and let it ride
Close to the dropoff on our long slide
To happiness, endlessly. I wonder if
Anyone looked at me, forty years back,
And thought, That’ll be the life;
No God any more, or sweating in the dark
About hell and that, or having to hide
What you think of the priest. He
And his lot will all go down the long slide
Like free bloody birds. And immediately
Rather than words comes the thought of high windows:
The sun-comprehending glass,
And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows
Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.