i was born before the river learned the shape of any town before the first bell found a tower before kings learned to fall down i have loved with borrowed fingers i have buried every name rosy-fingered dawn still touches me like she knows i remain i walk on through fire and rain watching the world redraw its fearful symmetry again i am not the light i am not the grave i am only the man who stayed i crossed the soundless sea in a boat without a sail heard the dead beneath the water heard the stars drag their chains the murmuring pines kept saying my name then losing the sound then saying it again time is only a room where the living pass through me i have prayed to be finished but the morning says no i walk on through fire and rain seeing your eyes before you in a child i could not save i am not forever i am just never away i am only the man who stayed
