It's all there in the Gospels,
The Magdalene girl comes to pay her respects.
But her mind is a whirl when she finds the tomb empty,
The stone had been rolled,
not a sign of a corpse.
In the dark and the cold,
when she reaches the door,
Sees an unholy sight,
there's this solitary figure in a halo of light,
He just carries on floating past Calvary Hill,
And in all mighty hurry,
I butchered might catch him still,
Tell me where are you going Lord,
and why in such haste,
thou don't hinder me woman,
I've no time to waste,
for they're launching a boat on the morrow at noon,
And I'll have to be there before daybreak,
Oh, what can I be missing,
the lads'll expect
me,
Why else would the good Lord himself resurrect
me,
For nothing'll stop me,
I'll have to prevail,
Through the teeth of this tempest,
in the mouth of a gale,
May the angels protect me,
if all else should fail,
When the last ship sails,
Oh,
the roar of the chains,
and the cracking of timbers,
The noise at the end of the world in your ears,
As a mountain of steel makes its way
to the sea,
When the last ship sails.
It's a strange kind of beauty,
it's cold and austere,
And whatever it was that you've done to be here,
It's the sum of your hopes,
your despairs,
and your fears,
When the last ship sails.
Well the first to arrive,
saw these signs in the east,
Like that strange moving finger at Balthazar's feast,
Where they asked the advice of some wandering priest,
And the sad ghosts of men whom they thought long deceased,
And whatever got said,
they'd be counted at least,
When the last ship sails.
Oh,
the roar of the chains,
and the cracking of timbers,
The noise at the end of the world in your ears,
As a mountain of steel makes its way to the sea,
When the last ship sails.
And whatever you'd promised,
whatever you've done,
And whatever the station in life you've become,
In the name of the Father,
in the name of the Son,
And whatever the weave of this life that you've spun,
On the earth, or in heaven,
or under the sun,
When the last ship sails.