Now here's a book full of photographs 
That my ancestors made some generations ago 
They're wearing the lastest clothes in a nautical way 
The Suez Canal close behind is frozen in time 
The deck crews star out of a mime 
And they seem to be considering me 
Here on my Egyptian couch 

O the life on Edwardian steamships 
Is measured and slow, while down below 
There are fires that shudder and clang and thunder 
And sweat-caked in smoke, and cauldrons to stoke 
To send the ship on her way 
Tasting the salt and the spray 
And a century later I scan the equator 
From my Egyptian couch 

And the news every day brings 
Contains the strangest of things 
But with confident smilesw my forebears decline 
To gaze into the wings 

So they look from the photographs 
And they're curious now, wondering how we turned out 
Let's say like the Chinese adage 
We're living our lives in interesting times