Night closed in around us
And we trimmed the lamps again
Against the greatest darkness man had known
A nation's grain was locked against the famine of another
And hope was in the fast lane riding home
They were roaring from their buildings
Which were monuments to greed and fear
And the science and logic that had failed
And mines were merely silicon
The aimless world had power to grasp the thunder
And to dash it to the ground

We were slow to come to anger
We were slow to understand
And we groped the words that might contain the rage
And naked terror faded into shadows of despair
Still we fought the rising madness of our age
And we marched in tens of thousands
While the cynics printed curses
Because as usual they'd seen it all before
And our freedom left us nothing
But to turn to face to tyranny of silence
Lest it blow away the dawn

A dark and dreadful morning
Of a limited exchange
Force in motion made the planet reel
The flash of [sidelness wire] ripped through avenues and highways
And explosion breed explosion from within
And the writhing earth in agony
The bleeding smoking wasteland
Where the winds sang songs of poison to the dawn
And wondered while we waited
If some beings out in space and time
Were watching just another fading star

Those who gained the shelters
Where those who faced the judgement
Of a pale and tragic sun upon our faces
The crumbling ruins, the acid rain, the dull and dreary waiting
The sickness and the anger and the pain
And the broken flag poles won so proud
Lay scattered on the cars and homes
Friends of ours, we didn't even know
And our memories closed upon a world
That didn't see the morning
And a cold wind blew to the corners of our souls