Wake up,
John, it's time to go
Come along,
John, don't be slow
Wake up,
John, it's time to go
A priest joins procession
just to help me kneel
With a warner at my elbow and
a mother at my heel
Marching in the morning
down a path I've lately seen
I was sleeping in his garden,
I stood in my dream
The echo of my heartbeat is
the beating of a drum
And all the earth is singing
with life's sweet hum
We found in soft silence,
shuffled through a door
The place where life is taken for
the let ter of the law
Shake the holy water,
set my lamp to guard,
Dying's very easy,
waiting's very hard.
A rope is hanging from the roofside, which covers me,
I thought to give it and a card could make the girls dream.
But now all is revealed,
standing there is just the man,
My feet are on the trapdoor with
a rope around my hand
An d now the executioner is
shaking hands with me
My duty I must carry out,
you poor fellows says he
The strap is tied around my feet
and a bag upon my head
And then the noose we separates
the living from the dead
Shake the holy water,
summon up the dead
Dying's very easy, waiting's very hard
Fairy whispers to me,
have you anything to say?
My mouth is dry, my throat's tight,
I answer, drop away
Silence now surrounds me,
my heart is beating on
The trap, the herd, the boot, all my life is still my own
They stand me in a corner with my
hands and feet still bound
While the carpenters call for
an explanation found
The rain has worked the timbers,
I hear the hangman say
It's funny but it worked well,
I tried it yesterday
All is ended,
now they say it all goes nerdy over
Your life's as good as ended
But I hear their voices waver
Once more the boat is shaken,
then again I hang in limbo
With a gauntlet on the trapdoor
and my body stands on tiptoe
Shake the holy water,
summon up the guard
Dying's very easy,
waiting's very hard
They stand me in a corner with
my hands and feet still tied
A warder holds onto the noose,
the trapdoor opens wide
Is it magic or coincidence
that keeps me on the brink?
It seems to work without me,
would it kill me now I think?
Oh!
Days I'm tired of living,
and I really want to die
I was taken to the scaffold,
and I heard that my friend cry,
Leave, I'm truly sorry,
forgive these hands are fine
Be true to both,
and I'll flood the job for the third and final time
My life was spread that morning,
but it wasn't theirs to take
To increase the votes that law requires
A man should build a state
Shake the holy water
Summon up the gods
Dying's very easy
Waiting's very hard
Shake the holy water
Summon up the gods
Dine's very easy, waiting's very hard
Shake the holy water, summon up the
God
Dine's very easy,
waiting's very hard
Shake the holy water, summon up the
God
Dying's very easy,
waiting's very hard
you