4th century BC
Plato
- Idealism — forms over particulars
- The Republic ethic: “God is not the author of evil”
Lyrics
[Intro]
There is a table
And it holds bread and wine
Plain as morning
Rendered for now
[Verse 1]
Some say the bread becomes His body
When a priest speaks the word
A miracle hidden beneath the flour
A change they cannot see
Some lift the cup and bow their heads
As though the glass holds blood
They kneel before the altar rail
And call the matter gold
[Pre-Chorus]
But the floor is wrong, love
The floor is Plato's stone
Where matter has to become other
To carry any glory home
[Chorus]
Bread is bread
Wine is wine
The table carries what the table holds
Plain elements, real feast in time
The meal is the marriage supper in disguise
The Lamb is coming
Till He comes, till He comes
Till He comes, till He comes
[Verse 2]
Some say the bread is nothing
Just a symbol of a thought
No presence, no rendering
Just a story we tell
They strip the meal to metaphor
They hollow the moment out
They sit at the table and see only flour
And call the emptiness their creed
[Pre-Chorus]
But the floor is wrong, love
The floor is still Plato's stone
Where matter cannot carry glory
Unless it is first disowned
[Chorus]
Bread is bread
Wine is wine
The table carries what the table holds
Plain elements, real feast in time
The meal is the marriage supper in disguise
The Lamb is coming
Till He comes, till He comes
Till He comes, till He comes
[Bridge]
Swap the floor
And watch the costumes fall
Neither transubstantiation
Nor the empty memorial
The Author renders what He sees
In frames we walk through slow
The table now is the feast to come
At lower resolution, on the same floor
The bread is bread
The wine is wine
The feast is coming
And the meal already knows
[Final Chorus]
Bread is bread
Wine is wine
The Father set the table for His Son
Plain elements, real rendering
The meal is the marriage supper in advance
The Lamb is coming
Till He comes, till He comes
Till He comes, till He comes
[Outro]
Till He comes
Till He comes
The feast is already here
Till He comes
Commentary