Long ago I heard a tale I never will forget The time was in the telling on the bank the scene was set The sky was rolling blindly on, the daylight had not gone She washed her hair among the stones and saw what was to come All this will pass There will be blood among the corn and heroes in the hills But there is more to come my boy before you've had your fill Men will come and rape the soil as though it were their own And they will bathe their feet in oil as I have bathed my own
All this will pass All things must come Just as I tell you here
Stones will stand together as if searching for the stars And all come crashing down again before they reach too far She turned to face the setting sun, I turned to walk away But then she called my name again and beckoned me to stay
All this will pass All things must come Just as I tell you here
She told me of the famous sons who write their names in peace Yet be cut down before the time has come for our release Just as I tell you here Even now I wait for the coming day Even now she waits in the dawn For the tales she tells, for the gifts that she will sell For the sight she knows, for a vision that still grows With the dream in her eyes no one's seen
I listened for so long that day that I can hardly tell If what she said was heaven sent or brought to bear in hell That men of hope would stand alone and still be cast a lie Just as Romans cast them on the day they were to die
All this will pass All things must come Just as I tell you here
Even now I wait for the coming day Even now she waits in the dawn For the tales she tells, for the gifts that she will sell For the sight she knows, for a vision that still grows With the dream in her eyes no one's seen