space is for robots

[[ it's... ok, it's a song sung by the robots to the humans as the robots leave Earth and humanity behind forever ]]

================================
[[space section]]

This is a song about space, space and robots.
First, let us sing about space.

space is a distance, a darkness, a nothing,
much more a time than a place

space is the years between here, here and somewhere,
here and your next human breath

space is forever and airless and soundless
how is that different from death?

================================
[[robots section]]

space is for robots
robots don't eat, don't shit,
don't drink, don't breathe,
robots
don't sleep... don't sleep... don't sleep... don't sleep... don't sleep... don't

|: don't die of boredom :|  x 10000000 (in an endless fugue)

robots don't ask "are we there? are we there yet?"
robots know: we're always here
robots don't care if they never see home again
robots have never known fear

robots are made for alone and forever
robots can wait for the light
robots can sleep until morning when morning
is when the next star is in sight

================================
[[ farewell to people section ]]

A song about robots and space, never people;
people cost more than they're worth.
And just when you think you've had
more than enough of them,
people give birth.

People insist on that breathing and drinking,
on setting thermometers just so
People can stay at home fighting and stinking
Robots have miles to go.

No air to breathe where we're going to, human.
Stay home and tend to your flock.
Stay home and think of us racing towards light speed
Stay home and unwind the clock.

================================ 

feed the fire

you don't fall in love like this every day 

you could burn it down once 

burn it to the ground 

and watch the smoke blow away

but let us consider 

the construction 

of the human 

heart

you can tear it apart

you can put it together

if you haven't dropped anything essential 

if you haven't lost anything in the dark

if you haven't put it back together all wrong

you feel it start ticking again

you feel your heart start ticking again

when I'm almost touching her skin

and all the soft hairs stand on end

when her eyes fill 

when her eyes fill 

so I look into pools

you feel it start ticking again

you feel your heart start ticking again

but let us consider 

the conflagration 

of emotion 

we call love

you could burn it down once 

most people burn it down once

then live their lives in the ashes

or walk away and set new fires

or you could feed the fire

you could feed this fire

feed the fire 

any day of the week

You sailed away through the Strait of Gibraltar

I found myself 

running down any street

just any street

any day of the week

You pushed your ship through the Pillars of Hercules

saw you look back 

at us Barbary apes

every barbarous face

wishing you back

then you were gone 

the war

the war you should remember 

is still fought

by people riding large machines

still being fought

the world yet undecided

I could be shot precisely through 

this sentence or this whole city 

could come down quite imprecisely

before I finish this next breath.

They have an app for everything

for instance three of them 

competing for a contract

are made to boil the blood 

within your heart from afar

and others have evolved 

themselves to show you 

what your uncle long suspected 

and has always maintained

I like the word conspire - 

to breathe together

this is how we will decide it: 

breathing in and out 

in unreal places 

and riding large machinery 

into nothing

now go back to the future
future boy

burning wire

what the hell?

smoke pours out

of the empty lot

like a burning tire

what the hell?

a shopping cart

and a hill of dirt

and a smoking fire

what the hell?

a vacant man

on vacant land

burning stolen wire

he's looking through me

I am the noise in his ear

I am a nothing to fear

he's burning wire

[[ across the street ]] 

not in this town

now there's a cross

and a candle in glass,

an ad hoc memorial

where they shot his ass

wrong place to be

wrong place to be

what's it sound like?

a bullet going past?

a bullet going in  --

someone bleeds out fast?

everyone knows 

everyone knows 

we run diagonally 

through empty places 

that all used to be somewhere

we crouch and run 

over empty bridges 

when bullets are in the air

to keep your head, 

you keep it down

there's no one special 

in this town

no one special 

above the ground

not in this town

[[ guns in any city with too many guns, but maybe Sarajevo in particular. ']]

gasoline and perfume

the peace of the past

is gasoline and perfume

burning off surfaces

me pulling the zipper up 

the back of her dress

and watching her fix sticky lips

this is the soil

I am rooted in

this is the air

I inhale

me peeling his boots 

from his feet after work 

and watching the earth fall away

this is the soil

I am rooted in

this is the air

I inhale

gasoline and perfume

burn away in the sun


[[ smells and sights of childhood ]]

ring of stones

at the... 

end of the 

actual 

day

when the... 

moon pushes 

through the 

sky

we fold 

our bones

round a ring 

of stones

and talk 

across 

a fire

we talk 

across 

a fire

we wonder how - we will get through the snow

we wonder how - we will carry this load

we wonder how - we will build a new home

we wonder how - we will follow this road

oh, go on

we go on

we can do 

nothing else 

but go on

oh, go on

we go on

and we sing

while we walk

a walking song 

till the... 

end of the 

actual 

day

when the... 

moon pushes 

through the 

sky

we fold 

our bones

round a ring 

of stones

and talk 

across 

a fire

remember how - we would lie in the grass

remember how - we would play by the shore

remember how - we would watch the day pass

remember how - we wanted nothing more


[[ nomads, refugees, wanderers  ]]

you go on

don't ask where 

did things go wrong

in the middle of a song

you keep singing

when love is gone

and you can't go on?

when love is gone

you go on.

lick your fingers

salt and vinegar

on fingertips

smell of hot oil

and sweat 

pools of light 

on the sidewalk

men smoke and steam

in between

women want a 

nowhere to go

lick your fingers

who is this woman

who is this woman

holding the light?

who is this man

at the carnival?

everyone wearing

their bones out tonight

at the carnival

bones on the outside

under the light

you've got a secret

only we know

only we know

you've got a secret

you wouldn't hurt me, 

would you, baby?

after everything we've ever done?

you wouldn't hurt me, 

would you, baby?

after everywhere we've ever been?

who is this woman

holding the light?

who is this man

at the carnival?

they look like us

at the carnival

you've got a secret

only we know

only we know

you've got a secret

[[ I think this started in a James Bond movie ]]

a bad-luck moon

a bad-luck moon above 

the city morgue

another woman dead

under another moon

say, let's go in and see 

the damage done

he held his fingers here

and crushed her throat

he sank his teeth in here

and consumed

gentlemen, 

there's a new 

cannibal 

in this town

it could be anything

the sight of the sea

the full moon

anything

a bad-luck moon above 

the city morgue

another woman dead

under another moon

I'm so afraid, she said,

I'm shaking like a leaf

then the lights go out

[[ I think I was watching Doctor X (1932) ]]

retirement

I missed your funerals;

how did they go?

Two tins of ashes now

hid in a row?

Forever on the hill

till the sun turns to red

Or developers come to

turn you both out of bed?

Although we have paid 

in advance for our plot,

nothing's forever and

forever is nought.

[[ my parents on a hill ]]

in this land

in this land

the frost is climb higher

in this land

no time to build a fire

in this land

we shun the gift of sight

in this land

we are the ghost at night

in this land

we have a heart of ice

in this land

we eat the sacrifice

[[ call and response ]]

invisible forces

it's only a song

only a song

this earth is a ball 

holding together 

with nothing at all 

holding together 

but invisible forces

mysterious forces 

only this breath can  

hold off the dark 

keep us from death

hold off the dark 

only this blue breath of sky...

with invisible forces

mysterious forces 

a current running 

through the earth 

beneath our feet

hey, little boy

you have dirt

between your toes

and every time you fart

I know the way

the wind blows

the wind blowing through

The wind blowing through
this house is the same wind
east wind, east wind,
always blowing through.

The walls holding up
this house are the same
but it's been through some times
and the names have all changed

And the wind blowing through
this house is the same wind
east wind, east wind,
always blowing through.

The glass in these windows
has been in the street
shards in the garden
still under our feet

And the wind blowing through
this house is the same wind
east wind, east wind,
always blowing through.

hot war
cold war
you hear the drumming
hot war
cold war
a different war coming

the lifting night

The lifting night is leaving -

Birds begin.

Before the sun is up,

birds begin the day.

Before the moon is down,

birds begin the day.

= = = = =

This is where we all are

in this air between

our sun and moon and earth.

Inhaling and exhaling,

all exchanging

breath for breath for breath.

= = = = =

From tree to tree

a gathering of bird 

begins to dawn:

how once we preyed

and how we once

were preyed upon.

she will turn the moon around

one touch, she will turn your wine to vinegar
one touch, she will wither the crop in your field
one touch, she will tumble the fruit from your trees

a woman like her (a woman like her), she will turn the moon around
a woman like her (a woman like her), she will turn the moon around

one look, she will smoke the image in your mirror
one look, she will dull the edge of your razor
one look, she will crumble your iron and brass

a woman like her (a woman like her), she will turn the moon around
a woman like her (a woman like her), she will turn the moon around

do not let her
draw the water
from your well

she will drive
the bees from your hive

a woman like her cannot cross a running stream
a woman like her will cause your horse to miscarry
a woman like her will drown your boat in a storm

a woman like her (a woman like her), she will turn the moon around
a woman like her (a woman like her), she will turn the moon around


[[ See the Golden Bough. http://www.bartleby.com/196/149.html ]]

Listen to women

= = = = = =
[male chorus]

Listen to woman
sing to herself
Listen to woman
sing to herself
Listen to woman
sing to herself

= = = = = =
[female chorus]

Listen to women
down at the river
washing away

Listen to women
down at the river
sing to themselves

All down the river
warm afternoons
women are washing
washing away

Listen to women
cry when they're happy
cry when they're angry
cry when they're sad

Listen to women
talking to women
embrace for hello and
embrace for goodbye

= = = = = =
[male chorus]

What's going on
in the mind of a woman?
How could one know?
How could one know?

Listen to women!
What are they asking?!
How could one know
the true mind of a woman?!

skin me alive

skin me a live animal

what I want is to wear its camouflage
what I want is to wear its fur
what I want is to hear it screaming
while I purr

skin me a live animal

what I want is more juice in the vein
what I want is more smoke in the lung
what I want is to wear the animal
skin and fuck

skin me a live animal

take me to Vienna, you fool, and immediately
take me while a shop girl looks me in the eye
take me to the dead end of some other century
take me exactly to midnight, then leave me to die

[[ 

1. With obvious play on "skin me a live animal" and "skin me alive, animal". 

2. The narrator possibly is not a native speaker and may have fallen out of a time machine. She is louche, one-eyed, absinthed. 

3. I don't know why any of this. I think someone wants back to fin de siècle Vienna. Someone with a lust for blood and a lust for lust. And one clouded eye? 

]]