The Seer

Long ago I heard a tale I never will forget
The time was in the telling on the bank the scene was set
The sky was rolling blindly on, the daylight had not gone
She washed her hair among the stones and saw what was to come

All this will pass

There will be blood among the corn and heroes in the hills
But there is more to come my boy before you’ve had your fill
Men will come and rape the soil as though it were their own
And they will bathe their feet in oil as I have bathed my own

All this will pass
All things must come
Just as I tell you here

Stones will stand together as if searching for the stars
And all come crashing down again before they reach too far
She turned to face the setting sun, I turned to walk away
But then she called my name again and beckoned me to stay

All this will pass
All things must come
Just as I tell you here

She told me of the famous sons who write their names in peace
Yet be cut down before the time has come for our release
Just as I tell you here
Even now I wait for the coming day
Even now she waits in the dawn
For the tales she tells, for the gifts that she will sell
For the sight she knows, for a vision that still grows
With the dream in her eyes no one’s seen

I listened for so long that day that I can hardly tell
If what she said was heaven sent or brought to bear in hell
That men of hope would stand alone and still be cast a lie
Just as Romans cast them on the day they were to die

All this will pass
All things must come
Just as I tell you here

Even now I wait for the coming day
Even now she waits in the dawn
For the tales she tells, for the gifts that she will sell
For the sight she knows, for a vision that still grows
With the dream in her eyes no one’s seen

“The Seer” is track 12 on the 1986 Compilation CDs “Hits on CD Volume 5” and “Hit Collection Volume 1” and track 15 on CD #2 of the 1996 Dutch 2CD compilation “Drive” =