Lyrics

[Verse 1] Bright blazed the sun on the day you were born Red ran the flowering vine I felt it then like the prick of a thorn Someone so tender and kind Watching [Verse 2] I left your mother a-sleeping and still To walk for a while 'neath the sky I climbed the side of a crooked old hill Reaching the crest, I did spy Soldiers [Verse 3] As you press on to the future's fair land Child, spare a glance back where you came For over your cradle a lone figure stands History tells us his name Adam [Verse 4] Had you the wings of the angel you seem O'er these hospital walls you would fly And my so-called crimes would go small like a dream And there to your wondering eye [Chorus] A mountain face, lashed jagged by the sea The plow's steady churn, the impress of hooves in the clay A rusted gray shed, jammed with gunpowder and gold A vine-clotted field where families once gathered to die Seaports, depots Where the goods of all lands freely flow A signpost to a town no longer there An arrow a-sail that no man shot nor can slow Forms mighty and small, scrabbling 'round looking for food The on-rushing plains, the soft lights just beyond Ten thousand the same, one child who is not The chair by the wall, a-rocking the dreadful day through The hand of love withdrawn: the many disguises of God The many disguises of God The many disguises of God