A man is told to build a boat in a place with no sea. Nobody believes him. Nobody helps. Not a cloud in the sky. He builds it anyway.
Then the rain comes and does not stop. Forty days of it. No stars, no shore, nothing to do but hold on till the morning. When it finally goes still he opens a window and sends a dove out. First time, nothing. Second time, a leaf.
And when they step out on to mud and light and air, there is a colour in the cloud nobody has ever seen. It is a promise. Never again.
God said, “This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be a sign of a covenant between me and the earth.
The World English Bible. A modern English translation made from the Hebrew and Greek, in plain language, and in the public domain.
Nobody believed him
Nobody came
He stood in the doorway
And he watched it rain
Forty days
Forty nights
Forty days
Forty nights
Build it (build it!)
Nobody believed
Build it (build it!)
Not a cloud in the sky
And he built it anyway
And he built it anyway
One drop (one drop)
Two drops (two drops)
Then the sky came down
Never again! (Never again!)
Water came and the water went down
Never again! (Never again!)
Look at the colour coming round
Forty days, forty nights
(Forty days, forty nights)
Rain (rain!) on the roof
Deep (deep!) over the hills
No stars, no shore
Nowhere left to go
Hold on till the morning
Hold on till the morning
Water went still (went still)
Wind came low (came low)
Open up the window and let her go
Never again! (Never again!)
Water came and the water went down
Never again! (Never again!)
Look at the colour coming round
Forty days, forty nights
(Forty days, forty nights)
Fly (Fly!) out over the water
Come back (Come back) with nothing at all
Fly (Fly!) one more time
Leaf in her mouth
Nobody believed him
Nobody came
He stood in the doorway
And he watched it rain
Ground under our feet again
Mud and light and air
A colour in the cloud we'd never seen
Somebody saying, I'm still here
Never again... never again...
Never again... never again...
Never again! (Never again!)
Water came and the water went down
Never again! (Never again!)
Look at the colour coming round
(Forty days! Forty nights! Never again!)
Forty days (forty days)
Forty nights (forty nights)
Never again