We travellers on the endless
wastes in single orbits dliding
Cold-eyed march towards
the dawn behind hard-weather
hoods-a-hiding
Meeting as the tall ships do
passing in the channel
Afraid to chance a gentle touch
afraid to make the Clasp
In high-rise city canyons
dwells the discontent of ages
On ring roads, nose to bumper
crawl commuters in their cages
Criptic signals flash across
from pilots in the fast lane
Double-locked and belted
in too late to make the Clasp
Let's break the journey now
on some lonely road
Sit down as strangers will
let the stress unload
Talk in confidential terms
share a dark unspoken fear
Refill the cup and drink it up
Say goodnight and wish good luck
Synthetic shiefs with frozen
smiles holdihg unsteady courses
Grip the reins of History
highon their battle horses
And meeting as good statesmen do
before the TV eyes of millions
Hand to hand exchange the lie
pretend to make the Clasp
cked down
and they put you first in line
And so you finally ask yourself
just how big you are
and take your place in a wiser
world of bigger motor cars
<Intelrude>
So Where the hell was Biggles
when you needed him
last Saturday
And where were all the sportsmen
who always pulled you though
They're all resting down
in Cornwall
writing up their memoirs
for a paper-back edition
of the Boy Scout Manual
See there! A man born