TIME 022 – The Dying Earth | The Time Machine

(Verse 1) The Traveller drove farther where no human foot could tread, Through millions upon millions while the living ages fled. At last he slowed the engine beneath a darkening sky, And found no trace of mankind where the final oceans lie. (Verse 2) A swollen sun hung crimson like an ember burning low, Its blood-red light lay heavy on the silent world below. The shoreline stretched before him under vapours cold and grey, A coast from some last chapter of the Earth’s exhausted day. (Chorus) The dying Earth lay waiting beneath a swollen sun, Where all the works of mankind and their countless years were done. No city broke the silence and no human voice had birth, Only ancient creatures moving on the margin of the Earth. (Verse 3) He watched enormous forms move slowly through the shallow tide, Like monsters from a world where older laws had never died. Their shapes were vast and alien in the dim and ruddy light, And every motion deepened the estrangement of the sight. (Verse 4) The air itself seemed weary and the heavens strangely still, As though the world had reached the end of every living will. The seas were dark and sluggish and the winds had lost their breath, While Earth moved ever closer to the long domain of death. (Chorus) The dying Earth lay waiting beneath a swollen sun, Where all the works of mankind and their countless years were done. No city broke the silence and no human voice had birth, Only ancient creatures moving on the margin of the Earth. (Bridge) The Traveller saw clearly what no empire could withstand, No triumph could outlast the slow extinction of the land. Beyond the rise of species and the pride of every age, The planet kept on turning towards its final empty stage. (Outro) He faced the crimson sunset on that strange and distant shore, Where mankind was a memory the universe knew no more. Then cold and awe together made him turn the machine away, And leave the dying Earth behind before its final day.