TIME 018 – Matches Against Eternity | The Time Machine

(Verse 1) The Traveller searched the galleries where broken relics lay, And found the tools of older men still hidden from decay. A box of matches waited there beside the ruined wall, Small sparks from his own century, yet precious after all. (Verse 2) He gathered sticks of camphor and an iron bar for might, For darkness feared the flame and fled before the sudden light. The wonders of his vanished age had crumbled into dust, Yet fire remained the one defence on which he dared to trust. (Chorus) With matches against eternity he carried human flame, A little spark of mastery from the century whence he came. No engines, guns or dynamos survived to aid his fight, Just fire within his fingers and the Morlocks' fear of light. (Verse 3) The iron bar became a club within his hardened hand, A crude return to violence in that soft and distant land. The camphor promised brilliance if the shadows gathered near, A simple ancient weapon built from chemistry and fear. (Verse 4) He thought of human triumphs over distance, steam and steel, Of towers, wires and engines shaped by thought and driven zeal. Yet all that vast dominion through the centuries expired, And mankind's final weapon was the oldest one, the fire. (Chorus) With matches against eternity he carried human flame, A little spark of mastery from the century whence he came. No engines, guns or dynamos survived to aid his fight, Just fire within his fingers and the Morlocks' fear of light. (Bridge) The future mocked the arrogance of every age before, For progress had not guarded what civilisation bore. The greatest works of science passed beyond all use and name, While one small match still answered darkness with a tongue of flame. (Outro) He left the ruined palace with young Weena at his side, An iron bar for battle and the fire he could provide. Against the endless ages and the creatures born of night, He carried one old human gift, the power to summon light.