Scanning These Crowds - Bruce Cockburn

I was half asleep in the washroom when they came in

Eyes like moonlight on barbed wire and veins showing under the skin

The uniforms made me nervous, I got ready for the chase

But they left me scanning these crowds for some sign of your face

Something fell on Saskatchewan in 1885

Where is it now that we need it, in this century of jive?

The axe falls as if through water -- never leaves a trace

And I’m scanning these crowds for some sign of your face

The world shot down love as a spy, once upon a time ago

Now people stand around here, like crows in the snow

Like the shadow of the rope on Louis Riel, they look so clean out of place

And I’m scanning these crowds for some sign of your face

Though storms may still kiss the grasslands with primal fire

In the land of passive revolution, everything’s for hire

Are they demons, are they lemmings, or just the humans in this place?

Lord, I’m scanning these crowds for some sign of your face