staying calm

a thousand years of patience have to end
not one of you could ever hope or pray
to see the demise of the present trend
and truth and justice resume proper sway
the world is always lit in shades of grey
but if we wait enough both serf and squire
will find that every preacher's a plain liar
and there's no healing for the human scar
we have just those things that we may acquire
the journey's long but ending's not so far

we cannot choose to borrow nor to spend
our hopes on those who saw love as mere play
not what the sunrise ever could portend
when all we see is skirmish and affray
from well-marked paths the goatish ones will stray
and cannot once be stopped by the barbed wire
who knows the pastures to which they aspire
but not one of our barriers is a bar
to those who when pressed can leap even higher
the journey's long but ending's not so far

there's nothing that we could think or intend
that would affect one word of all you say
the road is hidden past the nearest bend
and no maps serve now to show us the way
our only knowledge is we cannot stay
to listen to the plainsong of the choir
or for the calming of the others' ire
it never matters if we can't reach par
the better field's in quite another shire
the journey's long but ending's not so far

prince there's no reason for you to conspire
against us since we too soon must retire
to places that are hidden from your star
the firmest road ends up in thickest mire
yet there's not gold enough to pay our hire
the journey's long but ending's not so far