This is the dead land

This is cactus land

Here the stone images

Are raised, here they receive

The supplication of a dead man's hand

Under the twinkle of a fading star



Is it like this

In death's other kingdom

Waking alone

At the hour when we are

Trembling with tenderness

Lips that would kiss

Form prayers to broken stone



This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper



The eyes are not here

There are no eyes here

In this valley of dying stars

In this hollow valley

This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms



Between the idea

And the reality

Between the motion

And the act

Falls the Shadow

For Thine is the Kingdom



Between the conception

And the creation

Between the emotion

And the response

Falls the Shadow

Life is very long



Between the desire

And the spasm

Between the potency

And the existence

Between the essence

And the descent

For Thine is the Kingdom