House On Fire

midnight coming back around
the summer heat that wears me out
is drifting through a firmament of cranes
& the friends I've left behind
are speechless in my sunlit mind
as through the door to summer
through the door to summer
they pass away

if there's a stillness in your eyes
the unreal city's closing all its summer doors on you tonight yeah
won't you step into the light
the arcades that have blossomed just
to fade into the shadows of the night
through all the trains still moving in my mind
the gas fire flares into the light
& I am in this house on fire
but I was only watching clouds go by

and we were old before our time
& we knew as we heard the fields just
singing in the quiet yeah
that one day the band would strike
a tune that carried us along
through city gardens, leaving in the heat
& all the deals & trials on Ganton Street
the gas fire flares into the light
& I am in this house on fire
but I was only watching clouds go by

I picked her up at half past four
the church hall in a haze
unreal as I could ever really be
& everyone was leaving & the moment passed away
& ended up inside my heart a dream

midnight coming back around
the summer heat that wears me out
is rising to my eyes behind the flames
I have come to disbelieve
exactly what I hear and see
as through the door to summer
through the door to summer
I pass away