V.

It is surely time to fire
We are down now past the plastic, the sea coal, the flip-flops
Down through the flints, the quartzite, the hags
And down to the imprint-taking, relic-yielding clay

We are among bracelet clasps, spindle-whorls, a whalebone table
We are among fossils, the mammoths, the turtles, the sharks, the nautilus
The wing bone of the albatross, the ear bone of the eagle ray

Song of the bomb, the drifting song
The firing song, the song of the bomb
Song of the wren, the devil-bird's song
The firing song, the song of the bomb

Song of the spores, the drifting song
The firing song, the song of the bomb
Song of the hag, the sea coal song
The firing song, the song of the bomb

The song of the bomb, the song of the bomb (the song of the bomb, the song of the bomb)
(The song of the bomb, the song of the bomb, the song of the bomb)

His lips are now chert, the slate blue of a peregrine's back
And the sea's black before a storm
And his tongue is agate, all the profuse, unearthly colours of agate
I am petrified

Oh, happy band of pilgrims, drift upward to the skies
Where such a murmuration shall win so great a prize
Shingle shelters bunker, bunker shelters blast
Dark drifts down
Night flies fast (dark drifts down, night flies fast)

Song of the bomb, the drifting song (dark drifts down)
The firing song, the song of the bomb (night flies fast)
Song of the wren, the devil-bird's song (dark drifts down)
The firing song, the song of the bomb (night flies fast)

Song of the spores, the drifting song (dark drifts down)
The firing song, the firing song (night flies fast)
The firing song, the firing song

The song of the bomb, the song of the bomb
The song of the bomb, the song of the bomb
The song of the bomb, the song of the bomb
The song of the bomb, the song of the bomb

It was all sea once, in a long unbroken line

(It was all sea once, it was all sea once)
(It was all sea once, it was all sea once)
(It was all sea once, it was all sea once)
(It was all sea once, it was all sea once)