The Wave - Van Der Graaf Generator

To the academic man, this could be the answer…

In fact, it’s no more than a hunch

Still we try to eat it —

I think we’re all pretty out to lunch

The wave is out of reach

Trailing words from the hand

Only air can understand

Semaphore on the shoreline

Waiting for distance to recede, unhappily imperfect

When we should be happy just to breathe

But with each bated breath

So present, tense

We want to know

We want it sure

It don’t make sense!

So I’ll do mine and you do yours

But let’s not trade sand and sea

For brick and cement

The wave hits the beach, laps around abandoned clothes

Wants to share a joke with those who’ll brave the breakers

Who’ll break bread rather than pray

While the definition-maker's

Lost in the small print of the day

The words are only pictures

That the next wave wipes away