By the time the luminous descent of the bright star unfolds And tablets of strange love are shattered and bruised By the time the oleander has fallen from bloom And the tears of the crocodile water the sun
By the time you make up your mind I hear the drums of heaven too
By the time paradise alley is littered with rust And the arc of the dayglo is curtained in gloom By the time the kidney bone cities are crumbling to dust And the empires and all of the emirates burn