When all the worst we fear lets fall its weight
When the gyre widens on a window, wave breaks
When St. Peter loses cool and bars the gates
When Atlas acts a nag and makes his arms shake
When the birds are heard again in their singin'
Once atrocity is hoarse from voicin’ shame
And when the earth is trembling on some new beginnin'
With the same sweet shock of when Adam first came

Be, be, be, be, be
Be as you've always been
Be, be, be, be, be
Be as you’ve always been

Be as you've always been
Be like the love that discovered the sin
That freed the first man, would do so again
And, lover, be good to me
Be that hopeful feeling when Eden was lost
It's been deaf to our laughter since the master was crossed
Which side of the war will suffer that cost?
Oh, lover, be good to me

When the man who gives the order
Is born next time 'round on the boat sent back
When the body's starvin' at the boarder
Or on Tv givin' people the sack
Love, when the sea rises to meet us
Oh, when there's nothin’ left for you and I to do
Oh, when there’s nobody upstairs to receive us
When I have no kind words left, love, for you

Be, be, be, be, be
Be as you've always been
Be, be, be, be, be
Be as you’ve always been

Be love in its disrepute
Scorches the hillside and salts every root
And watches the slowin' and starvin' of troops
And, lover, be good to me
Be there and you stare as you stand
Or be like the rose that you hold in your hand
I will grow bold in a battered and desolate land
Oh, lover, be good to me

Love, won't you be
Love, won’t you be
Be as you've always been?
Love, won't you be
Love, won't you be
Be as you've always been?
Love, won't you be
Love, won't you be
Be as you've always been?
Love, won't you be
Love, won't you be
Be as you've always been?