let us recall  the best effects of style
when those who listen know how best to hear
and do not injure those who hold most dear
the hidden blessings of the final mile
rather they wish the urgent to beguile
expecting that the best might engineer
sounds that will please the most discerning ear
and lead once drooping eyes to shine and smile
the age of wonder has no fixed return
but comes upon us as we seem to find
not a changed world but a remarked abode
the home that we have loved for which we yearn
that seemed so hidden for time out of mind
appear before us as we climb the road

with what fresh words of choice or soft regret
are we to fight our battles now that time
has tolled against us the dull weight of grime
obscures our vision but no sort of debt
to past or future could hurt or abet
the heart of purpose as we seek to climb
beyond this moment past the normal slime
where there is neither  injury nor fret
you see us crawling searching for one spark
of ordinary kindness that might lead
the normal person from their weary plight
relieve our hearts from burden of the dark
reward with honour the most worthy deed
and grant assurance of a renewed light

in the beginning we counted no cost
but went rejoicing into the warm rain
so now more grimly we face what we've lost

so many choices into the mix tossed
almost at random it all seemed so plain
in the beginning we counted no cost

as being worth waiting no text was glossed
for hidden messages all was just gain
so now more grimly we face what we've lost

a world more troubled a future star-crossed
no brilliant thoughts emerging from each brain
in the beginning we counted no cost

instead we are the ones who now are bossed
ordered about and marked with a sad stain
so now more grimly we face what we've lost

knowing that morning will see the first frost
that signals a new winter with its pain
in the beginning we counted no cost
so now more grimly we face what we've lost

we  fear to echo what the sunlight speaks
in voices that cannot be raised too loud
for fear we might stand out within the crowd
or be admonished as monsters or freaks
so we are silent do not strain our breeks
in the assurance we will not be proud
of course or carriage nothing is allowed
to harm the tenor of our days and weeks
for normal passage this might be enough
but more is needed when we have to find
the kind of courage that you only need
when life has taken all your other stuff
and you’ve been drive mad as well as blind
yet have a chance for one more human deed

beneath the cloud is clarity of sight
where choices made do not entail regret
but only wistfulness that we have set
our hopes too high as swiftly-coming night
will end the journey still in our despite
there's magic against which we may not bet
so each must laugh while all the foolish fret
for there's still someone who can make all right
not for us here the option to renew
all the old answers that no longer serve
to cover up what must now be made plain
those monstrous forms that we refuse to view
or the old houses just around the curve
where we used to take shelter from the rain

before we cut the cord there is some time
to know the places where all choice is plain
and there is neither complete loss or gain
nor any hiding underneath the grime
for anyone the world is in its prime
we find it easy to remove each stain
nor is it hard to to show or to explain
the value given to each song or chime
while each one waits to hear just how the day
will be reported by the wisest folk
we will not rush unseeing  to remark
upon the rules that bound all work or play
nor those we take to be some kind of joke
that leave  us gasping at return of dark

now tell me that this moment is no lie
we mean to go one just as we began
to measure all the world within one eye

so that this magic will not make you cry
allow each of us to fulfill the plan
now tell me that this moment is no lie

since you have gained the trust and will not cry
for any reason there's a way to span
to measure all the world within one eye

we have been gifted with this will to try
for other countries where there is no ban
now tell me that this moment is no lie

that honour rises in the summer sky
with all the goodliness that we may scan
to measure all the world within one eye

in order that each heart may learn to fly
beyond the places where our feet first ran
now tell me that this moment is no lie
to measure all the world within one eye