Brompton Oratory

Nick Cave

up those stone steps i climb


hail this joyful day's return


into its great shadowed vault i go


hail the pentecostal morn





the reading is from luke 24


where christ returns to his loved ones


i look at the stone apostles


think that it's alright for some





and i wish that i was made of stone


so that i would not have to see


a beauty impossible to define


a beauty impossible to believe





a beauty impossible to endure


the blood imparted in little sips


the smell of you still on my hands


as i bring the cup up to my lips





no god up in the sky


no devil beneath the sea


could do the job that you did, baby


of bringing me to my knees





outside i sit on the stone steps


with nothing much to do


forlorn and exhausted, baby


by the absence of you