what has been seen

 fractions and fragments broken on the head

of tiny knowledge things that have been turned

between swift signals when the court adjourned

throwing us out into the wider dread

of rotting time and weeds in the rose-bed

such were the wages which our fear had earned

in the dry season while the forest burned

you spoke and no one heard a thing you said

justice requires a citizen must pay

for all the pleasures and the sins of state

since honour's lash is straightforward and harsh

this rule is clear there are no shades of grey

nor compromises on the road to fate

just noisy birds that call out on the marsh

night-walker's song

 so now this clarity in unflawed glass

allows a truth that we must never bend

these are the days that far too swiftly pass

 

you'd challenge what is said just for its brass

words that would hurt but had no warmth to mend

so now this clarity in unflawed glass

 

not clear to us the road through the morass

nor what to do to change the downward trend

these are the days that far too swiftly pass

 

leaving us with no grace but drying grass

and sullen folk who will not comprehend

so now this clarity in unflawed glass

 

the wisest one looks foolish on his ass

nor will the servile bother to pretend

these are the days that far too swiftly pass

 

into the memory of the tardy class

as one more message that we cannot send

so now this clarity in unflawed glass

these are the days that far too swiftly pass