Hymn To Breaking Strain

Em                         G      
The careful text-books measure - 
 A            C
Let all who build beware!
Em                     G        
The load, the shock, the 
A            C
pressure material can bear:
Em                Am         C   
So, when the buckled girder lets 
  D     Em
down the grinding span
Em                Am         C   
The blame of loss, or murder, is 
  D     Em
laid upon the man
C            D       Em
Not on the Steel - the Man!

Em                         G      
But, in our daily dealing with 
 A            C
stone and steel, we find
Em                         G  
The Gods have no such feeling of 
     A            C
justice toward mankind
Em                Am         C   
To no set gauge they make us, for
  D     Em
 no laid course prepare
Em                Am         C   
In time they overtake us with 
  D     Em
loads we cannot bear:
C            D       Em
Too merciless to bear

Em                         G      
The prudent text-books give it in 
 A            C
tables at the end
Continues after the ad
Remove ads
Em                         G      
The stress that shears a rivet, or
 A            C
 makes a tie-bar bend
Em                Am         C   
What traffic wrecks macadam - 
  D     Em
what concrete should endure
Em                Am         C   
But we, poor Sons of Adam, have 
  D     Em
no such literature
C            D       Em
To warn us or make sure!

Em                         G      
We hold all Earth to plunder - all
 A            C
 Time and Space as well
Em                         G      
Too wonder-stale to wonder at each
 A            C
 new miracle
Em                Am         C   
Till in the mid-illusion of 
  D     Em
Godhood 'neath our hand
Em                Am         C   
Falls multiple confusion on all 
  D     Em
we did or planned
C            D       Em
The mighty works we planned

Em                         G
We only in Creation - how much 
       A            C
luckier the bridge and rail!
Em                         G      
Abide the twin damnation: to fail 
 A            C
and know we fail
Em                Am         C   
Yet we - by which sole token we 
  D     Em
know we once were Gods
Em                Am         C   
Take shame in being broken, 
  D     Em
however great the odds
C            D       Em
The Burden or the Odds

Em                         G      
Oh, veiled and secret Power, whose
 A            C
 paths we seek in vain
Em                         G      
Be with us in our hour of 
 A            C
overthrow and pain
Em                Am         C   
That we - by which sure token we 
  D     Em
know Thy ways are true
Em                Am         Em 
In spite of being broken, or 
              Am
because of being broken
C            D       Em
Rise up and build anew
C            D       Em
Stand up and build anew!