Cry Down The Years

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Robert Hunter

Sing a song of shadows shifting in a shadow play
Forgot to wind the sundial, now it's stuck on yesterday (note 1)
Other side of paradise the lamplight of the lost
Shines from distant summer, Love, but who can count the cost?

Chorus
Cry down the centuries
Cry down the years
Cry down the ages
Cry down the years

Sing a song of human hope to shadows in the dust
In places where the sun rises only 'cause it must
Where the cold machinery in which we dare to trust
Grinds the grain for seven loaves, delivers up a crust

[chorus]

Spyrogya twist inside a microscopic drop
Every now and then another rises to the top
Tells you, "I've seen everything--of that which might be seen
But I can't call the shots for you, I don't know what it means"

[chorus]

When I say I love you, don't decide to take it wrong
Or else come on blasé as though you knew it all along
If on a winter's night a traveler happens by your door
Listen to his fairy tale but do not ask for more

[chorus]

Wrap your dreams around you like a cloak against the cold
Never share them carelessly or force them to unfold
None so lonely as the brave when conscience overrules
The wisdom of hypocrisy; the common sense of fools

[chorus]
[chorus]