There are the flames of a fire
Licking through the floor boards.
And the building is burning,
Burning down below us.

How could I have known?
What could I have done?
Is there any-, anybody here
That I need to know?
Can I follow you out through the dark?
Listen for the word.
Still we have so far, so far to go
Still to get away to hope.
****
There's a man in the window
Staring at the faces
Of the crowd down below that
Gathers as the pain grows.

And the man shouts out as
Flames crash through the doorway.
And the man knows soon that
Life will end his journey.

Don't look at the man.
He's a desperate man.
Don't look at the, don't look at the man.
He's a scary man.
Don't look at the, can't look at the man.
Immolated man. Can't look at the,
Can't we save the man?
He's a real man. Can't we save the,

Must look at the man
With his life at hand.
Must look at the way he has to fall,
Bound to lose it all.
Couldn't save him even if we tried.
There's no way I might try to get him hope.
****
And he jumps for his freedom,
Life bound on his own terms.
All the people below run,
Scared of implications
That one day they may too die,
Just as here he has.
Unknown man in the window:
Symbol of the future.

Don't make it so literal.