Faithful Departed

(album: The Time Has Come - 1983)

This graveyard hides a million secrets
And the trees know more than they can tell
The ghosts of the saints and the scholars will haunt you
In heaven and in hell

Rattled by the glimmer man, the boogie man, the holy man
And living in the shadows, in the shadows of a gunman
Rattled like the coppers in your greasy till
Rattled until time stood still

Look over your shoulder, hear the school bell ring
Another day of made-to-measure history
I don't care if your heroes have wings
Your terrible beauty has been torn

Faithful departed, we fickle hearted
As you are now so once were we
Faithful departed, we the meek hearted
With graces imparting bring flowers to thee
The girls in the kips proclaim their love for you
When you stumbled in they knew you had a shilling or two
They cursed you on Sundays and holy days of abstinence
When you all stayed away

When you slept there a naked bulb hid your shame
Your shadows on the wall, they took all the blame
The Sacred Heart's picture, compassion in his eyes
Drowned out the river of sighs

Let the grass grow green over the brewery tonight
It'll never come between the darkness and the light
There is no pain that can't be eased
By the devil's holy water and the rosary beads

You're a history book I never could write
Poetry in paralysis, too deep to recite
Dress yourself, bless yourself, you've won the fight
We're gonna celebrate the night

We'll even climb the pillar like you always meant to
Watch the sun rise over the strand
Close your eyes and we'll pretend
It could somehow be the same again
I'll bury you upright so the sun doesn't blind you
You won't have to gaze at the rain and the stars
Sleep and dream of chapels and bars
And whiskey in the jar

Faithful departed, look what you've started
An underdog's wounds aren't so easy to mend
Faithful departed, there's no brokenhearted
And no more tristesse in your world without end