Once there was a Ship of Stone That orbited a mighty Star And from it flew the First Ship's crew Whose children we all are And no matter how long we've drawn our track Still over our shoulder looking back Through the hydrogen's hiss and the methane's moan Past the polymer clouds of the Dead Stars' shrouds All our roads run back to the Ship of Stone There the First Crew all were made And wakened from unknowing sleep By the boundless sight of Heaven's height And the fires of the Deep And no matter how strange the forms we wear How warped and wild, how rich and rare How changed we've made the seed we've sown We are blood of those who, singing, rose From the body of the Ship of Stone And there our own ships' frames were formed To grow blue-glowing wings And spread them wide to the farthest tide Where the last lone beacon sings And no matter how tight the net they knot Of our web where the Wheel of Light is caught How strange and lost, how grand they've grown They, too, desire all Heaven's fire Our comrades since the Ship of Stone Once there was a Ship of Stone Clear domed, broad hulled and clean Where the air shown blue, through whose holds birds flew And whose decks were growing green And no matter odd these things may seem As madly mazed as shards of dream They are not a dream that you dream alone All ships, all men, are of one kin We shall not forget the Ship of Stone.