Thick Air

It's been a long, long time
We've been shut darkly in
Scratching for smiles
And missing our friends

Now we are free
Just about to be
And a thick air of triumph
Flows in

Composed from a living past
Now swelling around
Its voices its rhythm
Its earth-rending sound

Now we are free
To melt and to cry
And a thick air of promise
Surges by

It heartens, it bolsters,
It buoys and then
Leaves us to be
Our own new selves again

Let the dead be the dead
We are living, my friend
And the thick air of duty
Has died

And a new air of awesome
Will rise