As I Walked Out One Evening Ned Rorem

As I walked out one evening
Walking down Bristol Street
The crowds upon the pavement
Were fields of harvest wheat

And down by the brimming river
I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
‘Love has no ending

‘I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
Till China and Africa meet
And the river jumps over the mountain
And the salmon sing in the street

‘I’ll love you till the ocean
Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
Like geese about the sky

‘The years shall run like rabbits
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages
And the first love of the world.’

But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
‘O let not Time deceive you
You cannot conquer Time