Look at Them Now

Up in the gallery past the stars They pull up their chairs, they lean on the rail A blacksmith wipes his hands on his apron A shoemaker squints at the earthly trail A hat maker straightens his Sabbath best A scholar keeps his finger in the book And they whisper together like old men do "Come over here. Come take a look." Look at the children, the children's children Scattered under a dozen suns Oh, look at them now, look at them now Seventy generations counting the lights below Did we carry the candle far enough? Do they know… do they know… Oh, look at them now They don't know our names but they carry our songs Look at them now… look at them now… They saw the black Sabbath in October On the festival morning, the rockets and the knives The old ones covered their faces and wept "Again? After everything, again in our lives?" They saw the missiles out of Persia Lighting up the Jerusalem night And the scholar said, "We built a home there So we'd never again have to run from the fight" And still the children, the children's children Sleep safe under faraway suns Oh, look at them now, look at them now Seventy generations counting the lights below Did we carry the candle far enough? Do they know… do they know… Oh, look at them now They don't know our names but they carry our songs Look at them now… look at them now… "What's this machine that talks like a person?" "What's that box in their pocket that knows everything?" "A president on every screen, arguing day and night—" "Well, in Vilkomir we argued too, about everything." The shoemaker laughs, "They don't mend their boots!" The hat maker sighs, "Nobody wears a hat!" But the blacksmith points at a boy building robots "Look at those hands. I gave him that." Then a rocket ship comes roaring past the railing Nearly knocks the hat maker's hat away "Oy! Now they're coming up here too? Can't a man rest in peace these days?" Down below the children worry "The thinking machines will take our work" And the blacksmith laughs a long, low laugh "When the motorcars came, my forge went dark. The factory took the shoemaker's trade, The hat maker's too, and we survived. Every machine takes one job away And the clever ones learn the next to stay alive." And they ask each other, did we choose right? To leave and leave and leave again? From the Baltic snow to the Cape and beyond Was it running… or was it hope back then? And the oldest one, from Ur, from the very start Says, "Child, it was always both. Every bag we packed was a prayer. Every road… was an oath." Oh, look at them now, look at them now Seventy generations counting the lights below Keep the candle, keep each other Keep learning, keep moving, and go together, go… Oh, look at them now They don't know our names but they carry our songs They carry our hands, they carry our hearts Look at them now… look at them now… We see you… we see ourselves in you… Look at them now…