Standing alone by the edge of a river

He's traded his life for a glass full of tears

The bargain was quick for one's life is less dearer

When the sand's running out and the ending is near



The ending is near

The ending is near

The ending is...



The man climbed aboard and set sail for the ocean

He put on the mast all the canvas she'd take

Then laid himself down on the deck neath the tiller

The ship was his coffin this moment his wake



Runaway reasons

Runaway seasons

Time is a treason



That I give back to you now



The wind touched the sail and the ship

Moved the ocean

The wind from the storm set the course she would take

From a journey to nowhere towards a soul on the ocean



From the wake of Magellan to Magellan's wake



Runaway reasons

Runaway seasons

Everything in it

Hours and minutes

You take tomorrow



Because it means nothing

To me

To me



To...



In the dark he heard a whisper

Asking him to understand

In the desert look for water

On the ocean look for land



In the dark he heard a whisper

Asking him to understand

In the desert look for water

On the ocean look for land



And there in the waves

Was a man in his grave

That he saw in the night

'Tween the flashes of light

And he



Could not be there



And all he had prayed



Or had given away

He now found to be wrong

In the grip of the storm

And he

Could not be there



Could you keep our lives together

Safely back onto the shore

Could you grant this last illusion

Only this and nothing more



Could you keep our lives together

Safely back onto the shore

Could you grant this last illusion

Only this and nothing more



And all at once the heavens bled their fire

The anchor broke the chains they flew away

And suddenly the waves were reaching higher

And in the dark I thought I heard them say



Could you keep our lives together

Safely back onto the shore

Could you grant this last illusion

Only this and nothing more



But what the sailor did not know

And would never learn

Was on that beach now far away

The young child had returned



And finding the broken hourglass

He reset it upright

Then placed sand from the beach inside

And placed the lid on tight



Then examining his handiwork

He left it in the sand

And then he quickly ran back home

Thinking god would understand



Everything I ever had for one more tomorrow

Everything I ever had for just one more night

And if this is not to be I pray could I borrow

Just another final hour onto my life



Did you ever really want to

Did you ever really want to



Lord, tell me how it will be

Lord, tell me how it will be



Standing once more by a boat on a river

He pushes it off while he stays on the land

And seeing the hourglass now so much clearer



Which someone had refilled by hand



And somewhere that boat's now adrift on the

Ocean



The mast at full sail and there's no one on board

The hourglass no longer sits by the ocean

Only his footprints all alone on the shore

And soon they're no more

No more



No more



Now our story's nearly over

And we've reached the final scene

But we're sure that some have wondered

What had happened in-between



From the moment when the boy was saved

And their boat had reached the shore

Well, they talked about life and death



And perhaps a little more



The boy said he'd been a stowaway

Aboard the "maersk dubai"

When the captain had him thrown to the sea

And left him there to die



At this the old sailor had stood up

His face now filled with rage

And swore that he would never rest

Until that captain had been caged



But the boy implored the sailor

That he not say a word

Because he was an illegal immigrant

And as of recently he'd heard



That going to the authorities

Could often be unwise

When one's paper were illegal

The police just might not sympathize



So when they reached the harbor

With their journey at an end

He left the boy on another ship

Whose captain was a friend



And when he saw it pull to sea

And was once more all alone

He leaned against the tiller

And turned his ship back home



Eventually he reached that beach

He'd left the night before

Then stepped a last time from the boat

And waded to the shore



Then the old man picked the glass up

That he had left behind

And headed for the small cafe

For it was nearly time



And the ocean watched him leaving

To find his lady fair

And as he left he heard her last words

Drifting in the air



That every man



Is born you see

Beneath the sword



Damocles



For young and old

Are all alive

On that next beat



On which we ride



And that beat is such

A fragile thing

In both old men

Or youthful king



And that beat



Stands all alone you see



Between us



And black eternity



And until that time

When death won't wait

Let each man rage



Against his fate