[Intro — the pulse alone, slow] The Time Traveller — for so it will be convenient ° to speak of him — ° pressed the lever. And the world let go. [Verse 1 — pads drifting, voice calm] I saw the sun hopping swiftly across the sky, ° leaping it every minute, ° and every minute marking a day; ° the palpitation of night and day ° merged into one continuous greyness — ° I saw trees growing and changing ° like puffs of vapour — ° a million years of green in a single breath. [Chorus — the pulse doubles, voices layered] Faster! Faster! — night followed day ° like the flapping of a black wing! ° Faster! Faster! — the centuries falling, and no bell left to ring! The black wing! The black wing! beating over the dying day — I let the ages take me, and I could not look away. [Verse 2 — pulse slows, thinning] And the dials spun, and the stars grew strange, and the hills like water flowed, ten thousand years between two heartbeats, and grass upon the road. [Final chorus — fading as it repeats] The black wing! The black wing! night and day, and night, and day — (the pulse dissolves) ...and day...
