(Verse 1) Gunboats tracing circles in the Strait of Hormuz sand Sparks across the water where the fire slips from hand Sirens down through Lebanon, the Gaza borders tight Rations caught behind the wire bleeding out the night Half a world away the ice gave up the mountain crest Glacier cracked in Tibet, tearing deep into the chest Nine dark days in Trishuli, beneath the broken stone Two walked out into the sun, but hundreds left alone. (Chorus) Hold the line, count the cost Trace the borders that we crossed Turn the dial, watch the screen Living on the wire in the spaces in between. (Verse 2) Jet drones whistle through the gray above the Kyiv square Targeting the wire rooms, burning through the air Eastern front is shaking while the delegates prepare Talking terms of peace beneath a missile-laden stare Oceans run a fever now, the Super Niño wakes Drought across the cracked clay, floods upon the lakes The water's getting higher, the sky is burning red Reading tomorrow's weather by the warnings that they said. (Chorus) Hold the line, count the cost Trace the borders that we crossed Turn the dial, watch the screen Living on the wire in the spaces in between. (Bridge) Up inside the General Hall, the ink is drying slow Redrawing Mother Africa the way she ought to show True scale on the parchment, fifty-four and wide While Westminster and Buenos Aires argue ocean tides Old flags over barren rocks, the Falklands in the fray While back in London offices, the aides all slip away Caught out by the hidden lens, foreign money trails Paper promises shredding as the ship of reform sails. (Guitar Solo / Instrumental Break) (Verse 3) From the mud inside the tunnel to the drone above the town Everybody's building walls or tearing banners down The waters keep on rising, the heat is locking in Nobody can remember quite where this was meant to begin. (Chorus) Hold the line, count the cost Trace the borders that we crossed Turn the dial, watch the screen Living on the wire in the spaces in between. (Outro) Nine days underground... Fire on the water, sirens in the town... Draw the new maps clean, boys, draw the lines right... We're walking through the rubble to the morning light.
