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Songs From the End of the World
The End of the World
Is far, far away.
But believe you me,
The people there are just the same.
They laugh and cry, etcetera,
And yes, there is even tea,
Which you can drink to Byron’s memory
Opposite the blue armoury,
On tiled wooden tables lightly flowered,
Staring into American eyes.
You can walk through those lean streets,
Ride the ascensors;
A pair of rainbow eyes.
But I’d still rather look into my Watson’s.
At The End of the World,
Lie the Hills of Paradise.
Not that they are really Paradise,
It’s just that, to me, they seemed to be;
Walking through those lean streets,
At the house that Cochrane built,
Walking by the sea he mastered and commanded.
And in the Vineyard
Steel modernity rises high -
Don’t get me wrong, it’s impressive stuff,
But I get all that on the other side.
I prefer it when
Soft spirituality rises,
Cries of “¡Viva!”
And La Vida en Verde,
And Cueka in a kilt,
Downing beers and wagging our chins,
And talking about the end of the world.
The south of the End of the World
Is far away as well.
A land of rivers,
Lakes,
Arctic.
Kind of a breadbasket,
If breakbaskets were thin geographically
And mimicked my scrawny chest.
But these rivers run deep,
Mapuche force lies dormant,
Choked.
No-one’s fault,
Just blind prejudice.
The land of the End of the World shakes,
In ways few here can feel.
5 point 5, 7 point 8,
2 point 1.
Trembles in the night,
Yawning cracks by day,
The end of the world
Can swallow your good selves.
That’s why, for those of the land,
You live on the edge.
The north of the End of the World
Is a tomb world to some ancient race –
Land no man should look upon,
Forbidden.
Salty.
A thirsty, thirsty,
Desert tongue.
To the east, the Horseshoe
And the Third Millenium Cross,
Erected to the God who made
The searchlight stars in whispy skies.
The end of the world is cold.
And hot.
Chilly,
And balmy. The waves crash
Into the mountains
And froze for my disposable.
Walk those lean streets,
See for yourself.
You’ll find
That the End of the World,
Works tremors in your heart.
