Shriekback Follow

I wouldn't say I was an old fool yet
But a time arrives in the lives of men
When a kindly mist enshrouds the holy past
(We wouldn't make those mistakes again)

The backward glance always a price to pay
For who has lived that time has not battered?
As we stand at the mercy of the sun
No longer those whom the daylight flatters

Sometimes the scent on a drifting breeze
Draws us back to when all of our hands were clean
When all the world seemed comprehensible
What we had with all those simpler machines
(And still we yearn for all those simpler machines)

Shell shocked by the speed of life
And nothing broken we know how to mend
Bewildered by such perpetual delights
We want to feel the wheels and architraves again

And preciously, precariously
Robust as porcelain figurines
We take a bow and start to say goodnight
Comrades for ever with all those simpler machines
Locked into history with those simpler machines

The scrapyard stars are glittering tonight
The shards and smithereens
No question, it is a sentimental sight
Our toys and tools all of those simpler machines
They'll break your heart alright, those simpler machines