Lanterns of Reason

Oh-oh, oh-oh;

Under Edinburgh lamps the cobblestones gleam;

Where reason wakes beneath the steam;

You walk softly through the rain;

Measuring wonder, doubt, and pain;

You trust the mind yet knows it's bent;

And habits where our false truths tend;

And every voice in the evening air;

Asks what is known and how we care;

Between the cliff and the chapel dome;

We build our truths from stone and foam;

Oh, lanterns of reason burn through the night;

Guide us through shadows, live patient light;

In the crowded heart of the old stone town;

We rise by the questions we cannot drown;

Sing of the human spark;

Fragile and bright;

On the royal mile with a market card;

Adam Smith listens to them all;

He hears in striving a social song;

Where private hopes can still move strong;

An unseen hand in the honest trade;

Weep the common world we made;

And Stuart speaks in a measured tone;

Of moral paths we walk alone;

Yet every torch like a bell resounds across the hills and common ground;

Oh, lanterns of reason burn through the night;

Guide us through shadows with patient light;

In the crowded heart of the old stone town;

We rise by the questions we cannot drown;

Sing of the human spark, fragile and right;

If certainty is a door we cannot lock;

Then let the hours be our careful clock;

For love and logic both can stay;

In the same old city side by side;

Where thought becomes a bridge to grace;

And doubt can learn a steady pace;

Oh, lanterns of reason burn through the night;

Guide us through shadows with grace and light;

In the crowded heart of the old stone town;

When rise lies questions we cannot drown;

Sing of the human spark;

Fragile and bright;

So let the lanterns line the square;

For every skeptic, every dreamer there;

Get in the row;

Keep our questions warm;