En posts anteriores pasamos revista a la relación entre el Prog Rock y la literatura fantástica con sus adyacencias. Ahí tomamos la referencia de álbumes que remiten, en su totalidad, como concept albums, o parcialmente a obras literarias provenientes de la ciencia ficción, la literatura fantástica, la de horror, la de anticipación, etc. Hoy presentaremos esa misma relación pero a partir de canciones cuyo contenido alude a obras o fragmentos literarios dentro de los mismos límites antes establecidos.
Anticipemos que en muchos casos se producen menciones casi al paso de algunos elementos pertenecientes a esas obras y en otros se trata de interpretaciones muy libres que apenas parecen tener relación con los argumentos o los textos mismos. Los casos más fáciles de resolver son los de los temas instrumentales, ya que en ellos se produce una interpretación musical de los textos, sin necesidad de que exista un parentesco entre estos y las letras de la canción.
Se observará también en relación a las canciones - y diríamos, más especialmente en relación a ellas - una recurrente remisión a la obra de Tolkien, a sus personajes, los lugares de Tierra Media y algunos episodios. También ocurre esa recurrencia, pero con una frecuencia mucho menor, en las alusiones a las obras de Lewis Carroll, C. S. Lewis y Arthur C. Clarke.
De todos modos, como este panorama no puede, por fuerza, ser exhaustivo, ya que hay muchos otros casos, quizás de bandas o artistas menos conocidos, puede darse que aparezcan otras recurrencias. Agradeceremos a los amigos que nos siguen los aportes que puedan hacer al respecto.
Como en los posts antecedentes relativos a los álbumes, aquí también procederemos por orden cronológico. Vayamos a los '60.
[1967] FLOWER KING OF FLIES - THE NICE
En el álbum The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack
El texto de la canción:
On a cloud by Saffron Land
The flower king of flies
And the children all in white
All together here tonight
Let the dance of love begin
Let the tempo made and sing
The song and song in time
To a gong and bells sublime
Flower king of flies
Flower king of flies
Flower king of flies
Flower king of flies
The sun has shone all day
And Saffron has played
the king from own his flower
spread the words of love around
Flower king of flies, flower king of flies...
The flower king of flies
And the children all in white
All together here tonight
Let the dance of love begin
Let the tempo made and sing
The song and song in time
To a gong and bells sublime
Flower king of flies
Flower king of flies
Flower king of flies
Flower king of flies
The sun has shone all day
And Saffron has played
the king from own his flower
spread the words of love around
Flower king of flies, flower king of flies...
Mantiene una vaga relación con aspectos de Lord Of The Flies, de William Golding
LORD OF THE FLIES
William Golding (Reino Unido, 1911 – 1993)
1954
Durante una guerra, un avión se estrella en una isla desierta. Cinco niños son los únicos sobrevivientes. La novela narra acerca de la nueva organización social que desarrollan y los conflictos que sobrevienen hasta ser finalmente rescatados por un buque de guerra. Narración alegórica sobre los conflictos humanos y las escalas de valores que desarrollan en diversas circunstancias.
Supuestamente, de esta canción ha tomado su nombre la banda sueca The Flower Kings.
[1969] WHITE HAMMER - VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR
En el álbum The Least We Can Do Is Wave To Each Other
La letra de la canción:
In the year 1486 the Malleus first appeared,
designed to kill all witchcraft and end the papal fears:
prescribing tortures to kill the Black Arts;
and the Hammer struck hard.
Malleus Maleficarum slaughtered and tortured
all those under suspicion, as the Inquisistion ordered -
burning black hearts and innocents alike, killing the mad;
such was the power the Hammer had.
Though Hexenhammer was intended to slay only evil,
fear and anger against magic overspilled:
they also killed those of the White.
So for two centuries and more they tried to slay
both the Black and the White Arts -
but spirits override pain.
For every one that the torture took, two were hid secure,
and so the craft, yes it endured.
Love and hate lived on in the face of fear,
Hexenhammer's force died,
and the real power became clear:
White Hammer no more is beaten; now it begins to beat,
and the Grey, once oppressor,
now, at good hands, faces defeat.
And the Black, too, shall bow down to the power above;
Black hate beats Grey
but supreme is
the White Hammer of Love.
designed to kill all witchcraft and end the papal fears:
prescribing tortures to kill the Black Arts;
and the Hammer struck hard.
Malleus Maleficarum slaughtered and tortured
all those under suspicion, as the Inquisistion ordered -
burning black hearts and innocents alike, killing the mad;
such was the power the Hammer had.
Though Hexenhammer was intended to slay only evil,
fear and anger against magic overspilled:
they also killed those of the White.
So for two centuries and more they tried to slay
both the Black and the White Arts -
but spirits override pain.
For every one that the torture took, two were hid secure,
and so the craft, yes it endured.
Love and hate lived on in the face of fear,
Hexenhammer's force died,
and the real power became clear:
White Hammer no more is beaten; now it begins to beat,
and the Grey, once oppressor,
now, at good hands, faces defeat.
And the Black, too, shall bow down to the power above;
Black hate beats Grey
but supreme is
the White Hammer of Love.
Esta canción se basa, más explícitamente sobre el viejo libro Malleus Maleficarum, un tratado contra las brujas, de Heinrich Kramer
MALLEUS MALEFICARUM
Heinrich Kramer (Alemania, 1430 – 1505)
1486
Libro escrito por este inquisidor monje dominico alemán en conjunto con su colega Jacob Sprenger. Es un Tratado sobre la caza de brujas, el más famoso durante el auge de la Inquisición en Europa. Está compuesto de tres partes: I. La demostración de que la brujería existe y de que las mujeres son más propensas a caer en la tentación demoníaca. II. La descripción de las diversas formas de brujería. III. Los métodos para descubrir, hacer confesar y condenar a las brujas. Siempre se considera en femenino: el título se traduce como El Martillo de las Brujas.
[1969] RAMBLE ON - LED ZEPPELIN
En el álbum Led Zeppelin II
El texto de la canción:
Leaves are fallin' all around, time I was on my way
Thanks to you, I'm much obliged for such a pleasant stay
but now it's time for me to go, the autumn moon lights my way
for now I smell the rain, and with it, pain
and it's headed my way
Aw, sometimes I grow so tired
but I know I've got one thing I got to do
A-ramble on, and now's the time, the time is now
Sing my song, I'm goin' 'round the world, I gotta find my girl
On my way, I've been this way ten years to the day
Ramble on, gotta find the queen of all my dreams
Got no time to for spreadin' roots, the time has come to be gone
And though our health we drank a thousand times
it's time to ramble on
A-ramble on, and now's the time, the time is now
Sing my song, I'm goin' 'round the world
I've gotta find my girl
On my way, I've been this way ten years to the day
I gotta ramble on, I gotta find the queen of all my dreams
I tell you no lie
Mine's a tale that can't be told, my freedom I hold dear
How years ago in days of old when magic filled the air
'twas in the darkest depths of Mordor, mm-I met a girl so fair
but Gollum and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her
her, her, yeah, and ain't nothin' I can do, no
I guess I'll keep on ramblin', I'm gonna
Sing my song/Sh-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah, I've gotta find my baby
I'm gonna ramble on, sing my song
Gonna work my way all around the world
Baby, baby/Ramble on, yeah
A-do-do-n-do-n-do-n-do, my baby/Baby
A-ramble on, baby
A-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-de-do-de-do-de-do-de-do-de, yeah, yeah/
I can't stop this feelin' in my heart
Everytime I feel I will leave, I really gotta part
Gotta keep searchin' for my baby/
Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, babe
I've gotta keep a-searchin'for my baby
My, my, my, my, my, my, my baby/
Yeah-yeah, a-yeah-yeah, a-yeah-yeah
My, my, my, my, my, my baby/
Yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah
Ooh, my, my, my-my, my-my, my-my, yeah/
I can't find my bluebird, I'd listen to my bluebird sing
but I, I can't find my bluebird
I keep a-ramblin' baby/ Ah, ah, yeah
I keep a-ramblin', baby/I keep, keep, keep, keep, keep
Babe, babe, babe, babe/
I keep a-ramblin', baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby
My, my babe
Bay-ya-by/A-goodbye, goodbye, a-goodbye, baby
Well, something's wrong
Thanks to you, I'm much obliged for such a pleasant stay
but now it's time for me to go, the autumn moon lights my way
for now I smell the rain, and with it, pain
and it's headed my way
Aw, sometimes I grow so tired
but I know I've got one thing I got to do
A-ramble on, and now's the time, the time is now
Sing my song, I'm goin' 'round the world, I gotta find my girl
On my way, I've been this way ten years to the day
Ramble on, gotta find the queen of all my dreams
Got no time to for spreadin' roots, the time has come to be gone
And though our health we drank a thousand times
it's time to ramble on
A-ramble on, and now's the time, the time is now
Sing my song, I'm goin' 'round the world
I've gotta find my girl
On my way, I've been this way ten years to the day
I gotta ramble on, I gotta find the queen of all my dreams
I tell you no lie
Mine's a tale that can't be told, my freedom I hold dear
How years ago in days of old when magic filled the air
'twas in the darkest depths of Mordor, mm-I met a girl so fair
but Gollum and the evil one crept up and slipped away with her
her, her, yeah, and ain't nothin' I can do, no
I guess I'll keep on ramblin', I'm gonna
Sing my song/Sh-yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah, I've gotta find my baby
I'm gonna ramble on, sing my song
Gonna work my way all around the world
Baby, baby/Ramble on, yeah
A-do-do-n-do-n-do-n-do, my baby/Baby
A-ramble on, baby
A-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-de-do-de-do-de-do-de-do-de, yeah, yeah/
I can't stop this feelin' in my heart
Everytime I feel I will leave, I really gotta part
Gotta keep searchin' for my baby/
Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, babe
I've gotta keep a-searchin'for my baby
My, my, my, my, my, my, my baby/
Yeah-yeah, a-yeah-yeah, a-yeah-yeah
My, my, my, my, my, my baby/
Yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah, yeah-yeah
Ooh, my, my, my-my, my-my, my-my, yeah/
I can't find my bluebird, I'd listen to my bluebird sing
but I, I can't find my bluebird
I keep a-ramblin' baby/ Ah, ah, yeah
I keep a-ramblin', baby/I keep, keep, keep, keep, keep
Babe, babe, babe, babe/
I keep a-ramblin', baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby
My, my babe
Bay-ya-by/A-goodbye, goodbye, a-goodbye, baby
Well, something's wrong
La canción alude, por un par de mecniones, a un personaje y un lugar de Lord Of The Rings, de J. R. R. Tolkien: Gollum y Mordor
LORD OF THE RINGS
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Sudáfrica 1892 – 1973)
1954 – 1955
(Cuando no incluimos las imágenes es porque ya se han presentado en los posts o en menciones anteriores).
Gollum
Personaje que comenzó siendo un hobbit, de nombre Sméagol, pero que, en virtud de haber hallado el anillo único que perdiera el rey Isildurs en el río de los Campos Gladíos, donde murió, se obsesionó con ese anillo. Para obtenerlo debió matar a su primo Deágol y prontamente el poder del anillo lo corrompió, al tiempo que alargó anormalmente se vida. Pero también se deformó y vivió más de 400 años en las Montañas Nubladas, aimentándose de pescados crudos y trasgos jóvenes. Mantuvo el anillo hasta que Bilbo Bolsón lo encontró, a su vez, y se lo llevó. Pasó luego a manos de Frodo, su sobrino, quien debía destruirlo. Gollum siguió la pista del anillo y finalmente, morirá al recuperarlo, al caer en las grietas del Monte del Destino, donde, al parecer, el anillo único también se destruyó.
Mordor (El País Negro)
Región de la Tierra Media donde se centró el poder del Señor Oscuro, Sauron y donde está el Monte volcánico Orodruin (Monte del Fuego Resplandeciente), también llamado Monte del Destino, donde se forjó el Anillo Único, por Sauron y donde terminó siendo destruido al caer junto con Gollum en su cráter.
[1971] STARSHIP TROOPER - YES
En el disco The Yes Album
La letra del tema:
I. LIFE SEEKER
Sister bluebird flying high above
Shine your wings forward to the sun
Hide the myst'ries of life on your way
Though you've seen them, please don't say a word
What you don't know, I have never heard
Starship trooper, go sailing on by
Catch my soul, catch the very light
Hide the moment from my eager eye
Though you've seen them, please don't tell a soul
What you can't see, can't be very whole
Speak to me of summer
Long winters longer than time can remember
The setting up of other roads
To travel on in old accustomed ways
I still remember the talks by the water
The proud sons and daughter
That knew the knowledge of the land
Spoke to me in sweet accustomed ways
Mother life, hold firmly on to me
Catch my knowledge higher than the day
Lose as much as only you can show
Though you've seen me, please don't say a word
What I don't know, I have never shared
II. DISILLUSION
Shine your wings forward to the sun
Hide the myst'ries of life on your way
Though you've seen them, please don't say a word
What you don't know, I have never heard
Starship trooper, go sailing on by
Catch my soul, catch the very light
Hide the moment from my eager eye
Though you've seen them, please don't tell a soul
What you can't see, can't be very whole
Speak to me of summer
Long winters longer than time can remember
The setting up of other roads
To travel on in old accustomed ways
I still remember the talks by the water
The proud sons and daughter
That knew the knowledge of the land
Spoke to me in sweet accustomed ways
Mother life, hold firmly on to me
Catch my knowledge higher than the day
Lose as much as only you can show
Though you've seen me, please don't say a word
What I don't know, I have never shared
II. DISILLUSION
Loneliness is a power that we possess to give or take away forever
All I know can be shown by your acceptance of the facts there shown before you
Take what I say in a different way and it's easy to say that this is all confusion
As I see a new day in me, I can also show it you and you may follow
Speak to me of summer
Long winters longer than time can remember
The setting up of other roads
To travel on in old accustomed ways
I still remember the talks by the water
The proud sons and daughter
That knew the knowledge of the land
Spoke to me in sweet accustomed ways
All I know can be shown by your acceptance of the facts there shown before you
Take what I say in a different way and it's easy to say that this is all confusion
As I see a new day in me, I can also show it you and you may follow
Speak to me of summer
Long winters longer than time can remember
The setting up of other roads
To travel on in old accustomed ways
I still remember the talks by the water
The proud sons and daughter
That knew the knowledge of the land
Spoke to me in sweet accustomed ways
III. WÜRM (instrumental)
El título y quizás alguna línea de la letra pueden haber sido inspirados por una novela de ciencia ficción, Starship Troopers, de Robert Anson Heinlin.
STARSHIP TROOPERS
Robert Anson Heinlin
1959
Novela de ciencia ficción con un personaje que hace carrera militar dentro de una división que interviene en una guerra intergaláctica contra aliens parecidos a insectos. El personaje examina la realidad de la sociedad en varios temas que han levantado polémicas y generado acusaciones varias contra el autor: promilitarismo, racismo, fascismo, etc. Pero así como tiene sus detractores, tiene sus vindicadores, quienes señalan que el autor no plantea esa sociedad como un ideal. Su primera edición fue en The Magazine Of Fantasy Ans Science Fiction con el título Starship Soldier.
[1971] LOTHLÓRIEN - ARGENT
En el álbum Rings Of Hands
La letra de este tema no figura en ninguna de las bases de datos de Internet a que hemos tenido acceso.
Remite a The Lord Of The Rings, de J. J. R. Tolkien
LORD OF THE RINGS
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Sudáfrica 1892 – 1973)
1954 – 1955
Lothlórien
Reino élfico de la Tierra Media, entre las Montañas Nubladas y el Bosque Negro y cerca de Moria. Fue gobernado por Galadriel. Su principal ciudad es la ciudad palacio Caras Galadon.
[1971] BARAZINBAR - JADE WARRIOR
En el álbum Released
Instrumental
Remite a The Lord Of The Rings, de J.J. R. Tolkien
LORD OF THE RINGS
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Sudáfrica 1892 – 1973)
1954 – 1955
Barazinbar
Nombre dado por los enanos de Tierra Media a un pico de las Montañas Nubladas. Se lo nombra más como Caradhras, o el cuerno rojo. Allí, los enanos, cavando en busca del metal mithril, despertaron un balrog de Morgot. Dos de los reyes de los enanos fueron asesinados por el balrog y entonces las minas de Moria fueron abandonadas.
[1971] MISTY MOUNTAIN HOP - LED ZEPPELIN
Led Zeppelin IV
La letra de la canción:
Walkin' in the park just the other day, baby,
What do you, what do you think I saw?
Crowds of people sittin' on the grass with flowers in their hair said,
"Hey, Boy, do you wanna score?"
And you know how it is.
I really don't know what time it was, woh, oh,oh
so I asked them if I could stay a while.
I didn't notice but it had got very dark and I was really
Really out of my mind.
Just then a policeman stepped up to me and asked us, said, "Please,hey,
would we care to all get in line, Get in line."
Well, you know, they asked us to stay for tea and have some fun; Oh, oh,oh.
he said that his friends would all drop by, ooh.
Why don't you take a good look at yourself and describe what you see,
and baby, baby, baby, do you like it?
There you sit, sitting spare like a book on a shelf rustin',
ah, not trying to fight it.
You really don't care if they're comin'; oh, oh,
I know that it's all a state of mind.
If you go down in the streets today, baby, you better,
you better open your eyes. WOAH WOAH YEAH
Folk down there really don't care, really don't care, don't care , really don't , which, which way the pressure lies,
so I've decided what I'm gonna do now.
So I'm packing my bags for the Misty Mountains
where the spirits go now,
over the hills where the spirits fly.
I really don't know.
What do you, what do you think I saw?
Crowds of people sittin' on the grass with flowers in their hair said,
"Hey, Boy, do you wanna score?"
And you know how it is.
I really don't know what time it was, woh, oh,oh
so I asked them if I could stay a while.
I didn't notice but it had got very dark and I was really
Really out of my mind.
Just then a policeman stepped up to me and asked us, said, "Please,hey,
would we care to all get in line, Get in line."
Well, you know, they asked us to stay for tea and have some fun; Oh, oh,oh.
he said that his friends would all drop by, ooh.
Why don't you take a good look at yourself and describe what you see,
and baby, baby, baby, do you like it?
There you sit, sitting spare like a book on a shelf rustin',
ah, not trying to fight it.
You really don't care if they're comin'; oh, oh,
I know that it's all a state of mind.
If you go down in the streets today, baby, you better,
you better open your eyes. WOAH WOAH YEAH
Folk down there really don't care, really don't care, don't care , really don't , which, which way the pressure lies,
so I've decided what I'm gonna do now.
So I'm packing my bags for the Misty Mountains
where the spirits go now,
over the hills where the spirits fly.
I really don't know.
Por el título establece una relación con el mundo imaginario de Tolkien y, en especial, con Lord Of The Rings, aunque la letra no necesariamente se refiere a ello.
LORD OF THE RINGS
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Sudáfrica 1892 – 1973)
1954 – 1955
Misty Mountains
Cordillera de montañas que surcan la Tierra Media, donde ocurren variados episodios de las historias de Tolkien. Son un punto de referencia geográfico de ese mundo imaginario.
[1971] THE BATTLE OF EVERMORE - LED ZEPPELIN
En el álbum Led Zeppelin IV
La letra del tema:
The Queen of Light took her bow and then she turned to go
The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom and walked the night alone
Oh, dance in the dark night, sing to the morning light
The Dark Lord rides in force tonight, and time will tell us all
Oh, throw down your plow and hoe, race now to my bow
Side by side we wait the might, of the darkest of them all
I hear the horses thunder down in the valley below
I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon, waiting for the eastern glow
The apples of the valley hold the seeds of happiness
The ground is rich from tender care, which they do not forget, no, no
Dance in the dark night, sing to the morning light
The apples turn to brown and black, the tyrant's face is red
Oh, war is the common cry, pick up your swords and fly
The sky is filled with good and bad, mortals never know
Oh well, the night is long, the beads of time pass slow
Tired eyes on the sunrise, waiting for the eastern glow
The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath
The drums will shake the castle wall, the Ringwraiths ride in black (ride on)
Sing as you raise your bow, (ride on) shoot straighter than before
No comfort has the fire at night that lights the face so cold
Oh, dance in the dark night, sing to the morning light
The magic runes are writ in gold to bring the balance back, bring it back
At last the sun is shining, the clouds of blue roll by
With flames from the dragon of darkness, the sunlight blinds his eyes
Oh, bring it back, bring it back...
The Prince of Peace embraced the gloom and walked the night alone
Oh, dance in the dark night, sing to the morning light
The Dark Lord rides in force tonight, and time will tell us all
Oh, throw down your plow and hoe, race now to my bow
Side by side we wait the might, of the darkest of them all
I hear the horses thunder down in the valley below
I'm waiting for the angels of Avalon, waiting for the eastern glow
The apples of the valley hold the seeds of happiness
The ground is rich from tender care, which they do not forget, no, no
Dance in the dark night, sing to the morning light
The apples turn to brown and black, the tyrant's face is red
Oh, war is the common cry, pick up your swords and fly
The sky is filled with good and bad, mortals never know
Oh well, the night is long, the beads of time pass slow
Tired eyes on the sunrise, waiting for the eastern glow
The pain of war cannot exceed the woe of aftermath
The drums will shake the castle wall, the Ringwraiths ride in black (ride on)
Sing as you raise your bow, (ride on) shoot straighter than before
No comfort has the fire at night that lights the face so cold
Oh, dance in the dark night, sing to the morning light
The magic runes are writ in gold to bring the balance back, bring it back
At last the sun is shining, the clouds of blue roll by
With flames from the dragon of darkness, the sunlight blinds his eyes
Oh, bring it back, bring it back...
Contiene una referencia a personajes de Lord of The Rings
LORD OF THE RINGS
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Sudáfrica 1892 – 1973)
1954 – 1955
Ringwraiths (llamados también Nazgûl)
Son los Jinetes Negros, conocidos como los Nueve Jinetes o los Nueve. Son los servidores más cercanos de Sauron. Quedaron esclavizados a Sauron a través de los anillos de poder que les entregó el propio Señor Oscuro. Eran poderosos mortales que alcanzaron la inmortalidad, pero completamente sometidos a su señor. Como le ocurrió a Gollum, los anillos los corrompieron también físicamente, hasta convertirlos en espectros. Sus incursiones son seguidas de oscuridad y calamidades. Tuvieron momentos de fuerza y momentos de debilidad según las vicisitudes de Sauron. Fueron finalmente destruidos al destruirse el anillo único en el fuego del Monte del Destino, al final de la guerra del anillo.
[1972] WE HAVE HEAVEN - YES
En el álbum Fragile
Un tema de breve letra:
Tell the Moon-dog, tell the March-hare
Tell the Moon-dog, tell the March-hare
We...have...heaven
To Look around, to look around
Yes, he is here; Yes, he is here
Tell the Moon-dog, tell the March-hare
We...have...heaven
To Look around, to look around
Yes, he is here; Yes, he is here
Hace una referencia a la liebre de marzo, the March Hare, de Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, de Lewis Carroll. Es un dicho popular en Inglaterra, as mad as a march hare, más loca que una liebre en marzo. Ese es el mes en que, en el hemisferio norte, las liebres entran en celo y los machos pelean (como boxeando) por conquistar a su hembra.
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (Inglaterra, 1832 – 1898)
1865
March Hare
La Liebre de Marzo aparece en el episodio de la Unbirthday Tea Party, donde también aparece el Sombrereo Loco (Mad Hatter) y comparte los disparatados diálogos con éste, aunque a ellos, desde luego, no les parecen para nada disparatados.
[1972] WATCHER OF THE SKIES - GENESIS
En el álbum Foxtrot
El texto de la canción:
Watcher of the skies watcher of all
His is a world alone no world is his own,
He whom life can no longer surprise,
Raising his eyes beholds a planet unknown.
Creatures shaped this planets soil,
Now their reign has come to an end,
Has life again destroyed life,
Do they play elsewhere, do they know
More than their childhood games?
Maybe the lizards shed its tail,
This is the end of mans long union with earth.
Judge not this race by empty remains
Do you judge God by his creatures when they are dead?
For now, the lizards shed its tail
This is the end of mans long union with earth.
From life alone to life as one,
Think not now your journeys done
For though your ship be sturdy, no
Mercy has the sea,
Will you survive on the ocean of being?
Come ancient children hear what I say
This is my parting council for you on your way.
Sadly now your thoughts turn to the stars
Where we have gone you know you never can go.
Watcher of the skies watcher of all
This is your fate alone, this fate is your own.
His is a world alone no world is his own,
He whom life can no longer surprise,
Raising his eyes beholds a planet unknown.
Creatures shaped this planets soil,
Now their reign has come to an end,
Has life again destroyed life,
Do they play elsewhere, do they know
More than their childhood games?
Maybe the lizards shed its tail,
This is the end of mans long union with earth.
Judge not this race by empty remains
Do you judge God by his creatures when they are dead?
For now, the lizards shed its tail
This is the end of mans long union with earth.
From life alone to life as one,
Think not now your journeys done
For though your ship be sturdy, no
Mercy has the sea,
Will you survive on the ocean of being?
Come ancient children hear what I say
This is my parting council for you on your way.
Sadly now your thoughts turn to the stars
Where we have gone you know you never can go.
Watcher of the skies watcher of all
This is your fate alone, this fate is your own.
Aquí hay una libre interpretación de Rescue Party, un relato breve de Arthur C. Clarke.
RESCUE PARTY
Arthur C. Clarke (Inglaterra, 1917 – 2008)
1946
 |
| Rescue Party está incluido en esta colección de relatos |
Relato breve acerca de una expedición extraterrestre de rescate de los humanos ante la inminencia de la explosión del sol. Hay incertidumbre acerca de cómo sobrevivirán, ya que en el rescate anterior no existía aún la humanidad. Los extraterrestres se asombran de cómo los humanos se animan a determinadas acciones con la precaria tecnología que poseen. Procederán a una evacuación en una gran flota de naves llevando humanos.
[1972] GET'EM OUT BY FRIDAY - GENESIS
En el álbum Foxtrot
John pebble of styx enterprises
Get em out by friday!
You dont get paid till the last ones well on his way.
Get em out by friday!
Its important that we keep to schedule, there must be no delay.
Mark hall of styx enterprises (otherwise known as the winkler)
I represent a firm of gentlemen who recently purchased this
House and all the others in the road,
In the interest of humanity weve found a better place for you
To go, go-woh, go-woh
Mrs. barrow (a tenant)
Oh no, this I cant believe,
Oh mary, theyre asking us to leave.
Mr. pebble
Get em out by friday!
Ive told you before, s good many gone if we let them stay.
And if it isnt easy,
You can squeeze a little grease and our troubles will soon run away.
Mrs. barrow
After all this time, they ask us to leave,
And I told them we could pay double the rent.
I dont know why it seemed so funny,
Seeing as how theyd take more money.
The winkler called again, he came here this morning,
With four hundred pounds and a photograph of the place he has found.
A block of flats with central heating.
I think were going to find it hard.
Mr. pebble
Now weve got them!
Ive always said that cash cash cash can do anything well.
Work can be rewarding
When a flash of intuition is a gift that helps you
Excel-sell-sell-sell.
Mr. hall
Here we are in harlow new town, did you recognise your block
Across the square, over there,
Sadly since last time we spoke, weve found weve had to raise
The rent again,
Just a bit.
Mrs. barrow
Oh no, this I cant believe
Oh mary, and we agreed to leave.
(a passage of time)
18/9/2012 t.v. flash on all dial-a-program services
This is an announcement from genetic control:
It is my sad duty to inform you of a four foot restriction on
Humanoid height.
Extract from coversation of joe ordinary in local puborama
I hear the directors of genetic control have been buying all the
Properties that have recently been sold, taking risks oh so bold.
Its said now that people will be shorter in height,
They can fit twice as many in the same building site.
(they say its alright),
Beginning with the tenants of the town of harlow,
In the interest of humanity, theyve been told they must go,
Told they must go-go-go-go.
Sir john de pebble of united blacksprings international
I think Ive fixed a new deal
A dozen properties - well buy at five and sell at thirty four,
Some are still inhabited,
Its time to send the winkler to see them,
Hell have to work some more.
Memo from satin peter of rock development ltd.
With land in your hand, youll be happy on earth
Then invest in the church for your heaven.
Get em out by friday!
You dont get paid till the last ones well on his way.
Get em out by friday!
Its important that we keep to schedule, there must be no delay.
Mark hall of styx enterprises (otherwise known as the winkler)
I represent a firm of gentlemen who recently purchased this
House and all the others in the road,
In the interest of humanity weve found a better place for you
To go, go-woh, go-woh
Mrs. barrow (a tenant)
Oh no, this I cant believe,
Oh mary, theyre asking us to leave.
Mr. pebble
Get em out by friday!
Ive told you before, s good many gone if we let them stay.
And if it isnt easy,
You can squeeze a little grease and our troubles will soon run away.
Mrs. barrow
After all this time, they ask us to leave,
And I told them we could pay double the rent.
I dont know why it seemed so funny,
Seeing as how theyd take more money.
The winkler called again, he came here this morning,
With four hundred pounds and a photograph of the place he has found.
A block of flats with central heating.
I think were going to find it hard.
Mr. pebble
Now weve got them!
Ive always said that cash cash cash can do anything well.
Work can be rewarding
When a flash of intuition is a gift that helps you
Excel-sell-sell-sell.
Mr. hall
Here we are in harlow new town, did you recognise your block
Across the square, over there,
Sadly since last time we spoke, weve found weve had to raise
The rent again,
Just a bit.
Mrs. barrow
Oh no, this I cant believe
Oh mary, and we agreed to leave.
(a passage of time)
18/9/2012 t.v. flash on all dial-a-program services
This is an announcement from genetic control:
It is my sad duty to inform you of a four foot restriction on
Humanoid height.
Extract from coversation of joe ordinary in local puborama
I hear the directors of genetic control have been buying all the
Properties that have recently been sold, taking risks oh so bold.
Its said now that people will be shorter in height,
They can fit twice as many in the same building site.
(they say its alright),
Beginning with the tenants of the town of harlow,
In the interest of humanity, theyve been told they must go,
Told they must go-go-go-go.
Sir john de pebble of united blacksprings international
I think Ive fixed a new deal
A dozen properties - well buy at five and sell at thirty four,
Some are still inhabited,
Its time to send the winkler to see them,
Hell have to work some more.
Memo from satin peter of rock development ltd.
With land in your hand, youll be happy on earth
Then invest in the church for your heaven.
La alusión es a la historia The Vision Of Milty Boil, del libro The General Zapped An Angel, de Howard Fast.
VISION OF MILTY BOIL
Howard Fast (EEUU, 1914 – 2003)
1970
Relato sobre la superpoblación planetaria y una empresa que compra calles para construir edificios con apartamentos más pequeños, al tiempo que porducen una disminución de la talla humana de modo genético para que puedan caber más habitantes. Curiosamente, la acción transcurre en 2012. El cuento se publicó en el libro The General Zapped An Angel, 1970.
[1973] C'THLU THLU - CARAVAN
En el álbum For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night
From the forest down below
Came a voice that cried "no"
Something seemed nearly dead
Making me feel so cold
Even the trees seemed to fear
There was something unreal
Couldn't see very far
And the sky had gone dark
So we ran, yeah, as fast as we can
Only thought to get away
On and on we didn't know where we'd gone
If it was night or day
"Come back", I can hear a voice call
I can feel it pulling me down
In my head it felt like something had said
You better slow down
But I tried so hard not to make a sound
Feeling better I turned round
And coming up behind me I could see...
Like shadows in the trees
They came creeping unknown
Keeping close through the ground
I can feel them tramp on
Saw the music they knew
We were somewhere close by
They began to crowd us in
Sinkin' deeper in pain
Came a voice that cried "no"
Something seemed nearly dead
Making me feel so cold
Even the trees seemed to fear
There was something unreal
Couldn't see very far
And the sky had gone dark
So we ran, yeah, as fast as we can
Only thought to get away
On and on we didn't know where we'd gone
If it was night or day
"Come back", I can hear a voice call
I can feel it pulling me down
In my head it felt like something had said
You better slow down
But I tried so hard not to make a sound
Feeling better I turned round
And coming up behind me I could see...
Like shadows in the trees
They came creeping unknown
Keeping close through the ground
I can feel them tramp on
Saw the music they knew
We were somewhere close by
They began to crowd us in
Sinkin' deeper in pain
Referido a la deidad de la narrativa de H. P. Lovecraft, por ejemplo en The Call Of C'Thlu Thlu.
Existen muchos temas de bandas de las distintas vertientes del metal que también remiten a este personaje lovecraftiano.
THE CALL OF C'THUHLU
Howard Phillip Lovecraft (EEUU, 1890 – 1937)
1928
Cthulhu
Uno de los personajes que pertenecen a la mitología creada por Lovecraft, de los seres que habitaron la Tierra antes de la aparición del Hombre y que ahora regresan para recuperarla. Es el más venerado de esos antiguos dioses.
[1973] LADY FUCHSIA - STRAWBS
En el álbum Bursting At The Seams
A child denied all love can't weep
But bravely bears her life alone
So Fuschia as you try to sleep
You dream of friends you've never known.
In troubled years when no-one cared
You searched for comfort everywhere
For heavy burdens never shared
Become too much for one to bear.
So much to give
But those who live
Don't know of you
Your fantasy
Of love to be
Cannot come true
Oh Lady Fuschia
Oh Lady Fuschia.
Now poised above the castle walls
She looks your last on lonely skies
Night owls pray for her as they call
Returning ere the dawn shall rise.
Your loveless life
Has led you here
Not knowing why
Your troubled mind's
No longer clear
To live or die
Oh Lady Fuschia
Oh Lady Fuschia.
Oh Lady Fuschia
Oh Lady Fuschia.
But bravely bears her life alone
So Fuschia as you try to sleep
You dream of friends you've never known.
In troubled years when no-one cared
You searched for comfort everywhere
For heavy burdens never shared
Become too much for one to bear.
So much to give
But those who live
Don't know of you
Your fantasy
Of love to be
Cannot come true
Oh Lady Fuschia
Oh Lady Fuschia.
Now poised above the castle walls
She looks your last on lonely skies
Night owls pray for her as they call
Returning ere the dawn shall rise.
Your loveless life
Has led you here
Not knowing why
Your troubled mind's
No longer clear
To live or die
Oh Lady Fuschia
Oh Lady Fuschia.
Oh Lady Fuschia
Oh Lady Fuschia.
Está basado en el personaje de la novela Titus Groan (Lady Fuchsia Groan), integrante de la trilogía Gormenghast, de Mervyn Peake.
GORMENGHAST
Mervyn Peake (China, 1911 – 1968) (inglés)
(1946 – 1959)
I. TITUS GROAN
1946
Goprmenghast es una trilogía de novelas fantásticas con elementos góticos y surrealistas.
Titus Groan es la primera de la serie. Gormenghast es un reino aislado del mundo dominado por la familia Groan desde el laberíntico castillo de Gormenhast, que es a la vez el nombre de una montaña y un río de la región. Su aislamiento respecto al mundo se da por pantanos, ciénagas, páramos, montañas, bosques, todos elementos que aparecen como infranqueables y que le dan las características de lugar utópico o, más bien en este caso, distópico. Esta primera parte de la trilogía narra el ascenso de Titus Groan al poder dentro de su propio castillo y familia, entre el proceso de locura de su padre, las conspiraciones de sus criados y las aspiraciones y fantasías de Lady Fuchsia, su hermana.
[1974] THE LAMIA - GENESIS
En el álbum The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
El texto de la canción:
Rael touches his face to confirm that he is still alive. He writes Death off as an illusion, but notices a thick musky scent hanging in the air. He moves to the corner where the scent is stronger, discovering a crack in the rubble through which it is entering. He tries to shift the stones and eventually clears a hole large enough to crawl out of. The perfume is even stronger on the other side and he sets off to find its source, with a new-found energy.
The scent grows richer, he knows he must be near,
He finds a long passageway lit by chandelier.
Each step he takes, the perfumes change
From familiar fragrance to flavours strange.
A magnificent chamber meets his eye.
He finally reaches a very ornate pink-water pool. It is lavishly decorated with gold fittings. The walls around the pool are covered with a maroon velvet up which honeysuckle is growing. From out of the mist on the water comes a series of ripples.
Inside, a long rose-water pool is shrouded by fine mist.
Stepping in the moist silence, with a warm breeze he's gently kissed.
Thinking he is quite alone,
He enters the room, as if it were his own
But ripples on the sweet pink water
Reveal some company unthought of -
Three snakelike creatures are swimming towards Rael. Each reptilian creature has the diminutive head and breasts of a beautiful woman. His horror gives way to infatuation as their soft green eyes show their welcome. The Lamia invite him to taste the sweet water and he is quick to enter the pool. As soon as he swallows some liquid, a pale blue luminescence drips off from his skin. The Lamia lick the liquid; very gently as they begin, with each new touch, he feels the need to give more and more.
Rael stands astonished doubting his sight,
Struck by beauty, gripped in fright;
Three vermilion snakes of female face
The smallest motion, filled with grace.
Muted melodies fill the echoing hall,
But there is no sign of warning in the siren's call:
"Rael welcome, we are the Lamia of the pool.
We have been waiting for our waters to bring you cool."
Putting fear beside him, he trusts in beauty blind,
He slips into the nectar, leaving his shredded clothes behind.
"With their tongues, they test, taste and judge all that is mine.
They move in a series of caresses
That glide up and down my spine.
They knead his flesh until his bones appear to melt, and at a point at which he feels he cannot go beyond, they nibble at his body. Taking in the first drops of his blood, their eyes blacken and their bodies are shaken. Distraught with helpless passion he watches as his lovers die. In a desperate attempt to bring what is left of them into his being, he takes and eats their bodies, and struggles to leave his lovers' nest.
As they nibble the fruit of my flesh, I feel no pain,
Only a magic that a name would stain.
With the first drop of my blood in their veins
Their faces are convulsed in mortal pains.
The fairest cries, 'We all have loved you Rael'."
Each empty snakelike body floats,
Silent sorrow in empty boats.
A sickly sourness fills the room,
The bitter harvest of a dying bloom.
Looking for motion I know I will not find,
I stroke the curls now turning pale, in which I'd lain entwined
"O Lamia, your flesh that remains I will take as my food"
It is the scent of garlic that lingers on my chocolate fingers.
Looking behind me, the water turns icy blue,
The lights are dimmed and once again the stage is set for you.
The scent grows richer, he knows he must be near,
He finds a long passageway lit by chandelier.
Each step he takes, the perfumes change
From familiar fragrance to flavours strange.
A magnificent chamber meets his eye.
He finally reaches a very ornate pink-water pool. It is lavishly decorated with gold fittings. The walls around the pool are covered with a maroon velvet up which honeysuckle is growing. From out of the mist on the water comes a series of ripples.
Inside, a long rose-water pool is shrouded by fine mist.
Stepping in the moist silence, with a warm breeze he's gently kissed.
Thinking he is quite alone,
He enters the room, as if it were his own
But ripples on the sweet pink water
Reveal some company unthought of -
Three snakelike creatures are swimming towards Rael. Each reptilian creature has the diminutive head and breasts of a beautiful woman. His horror gives way to infatuation as their soft green eyes show their welcome. The Lamia invite him to taste the sweet water and he is quick to enter the pool. As soon as he swallows some liquid, a pale blue luminescence drips off from his skin. The Lamia lick the liquid; very gently as they begin, with each new touch, he feels the need to give more and more.
Rael stands astonished doubting his sight,
Struck by beauty, gripped in fright;
Three vermilion snakes of female face
The smallest motion, filled with grace.
Muted melodies fill the echoing hall,
But there is no sign of warning in the siren's call:
"Rael welcome, we are the Lamia of the pool.
We have been waiting for our waters to bring you cool."
Putting fear beside him, he trusts in beauty blind,
He slips into the nectar, leaving his shredded clothes behind.
"With their tongues, they test, taste and judge all that is mine.
They move in a series of caresses
That glide up and down my spine.
They knead his flesh until his bones appear to melt, and at a point at which he feels he cannot go beyond, they nibble at his body. Taking in the first drops of his blood, their eyes blacken and their bodies are shaken. Distraught with helpless passion he watches as his lovers die. In a desperate attempt to bring what is left of them into his being, he takes and eats their bodies, and struggles to leave his lovers' nest.
As they nibble the fruit of my flesh, I feel no pain,
Only a magic that a name would stain.
With the first drop of my blood in their veins
Their faces are convulsed in mortal pains.
The fairest cries, 'We all have loved you Rael'."
Each empty snakelike body floats,
Silent sorrow in empty boats.
A sickly sourness fills the room,
The bitter harvest of a dying bloom.
Looking for motion I know I will not find,
I stroke the curls now turning pale, in which I'd lain entwined
"O Lamia, your flesh that remains I will take as my food"
It is the scent of garlic that lingers on my chocolate fingers.
Looking behind me, the water turns icy blue,
The lights are dimmed and once again the stage is set for you.
Genesis toma la inspiración del poema Lamia de John Keats
LAMIA
John Keats
1819
Poema narrativo sobre temática clásica griega. Una Lamia convertida en serpiente logra que el dios Hermes le de forma humana a cambio de darle información sobre una ninfa que él buscaba. La Lamia, con forma de mujer seduce a un joven de Corinto con quien pretende casarse, pero es puesta al descubierto y vuelta a su froma de serpiente. La Lamia es un personaje mitológico, femenino, para asustar a los niños, de las cuales se dice que eran poderosamente seductoras.
La poesía de Keats se inspiró en La novia de Corinto, historia aparecida en Anatomía de la Melancolía, de Robert Burton (Inglaterra 1577 – 1640), quien a su vez toma la historia de la Vida de Apolonio de Tiana, de Filóstrato (Grecia, c. 160 ~ 170 – c. 249).
[1974] NIMRODEL / THE PROCESSION / WHITE RIDER - CAMEL
En el álbum Mirage
La letra:
When he rides, my fears subside,
For darkness turns once more to light.
Through the skies, his white horse flies,
To find a land beyond the night.
Once he wore grey, he fell and slipped away
From everybody's sight.
The wizard of them all, came back from his fall
This time wearing white.
He has a certain air, as if he's never there,
But somehow far away.
And though he seems afar, like a distant star.
His warmth he can convey.
For darkness turns once more to light.
Through the skies, his white horse flies,
To find a land beyond the night.
Once he wore grey, he fell and slipped away
From everybody's sight.
The wizard of them all, came back from his fall
This time wearing white.
He has a certain air, as if he's never there,
But somehow far away.
And though he seems afar, like a distant star.
His warmth he can convey.
Nimrodel refere a la elfa de ese nombre o al río así bautizado por ella. The White Rider alude a Gandalf, el mago blanco (que fue gris). Se contrapone con los Black Riders de Sauron. La inspiración está tomada de la temática tolkeniana.
LORD OF THE RINGS
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Sudáfrica 1892 – 1973)
1954 – 1955
Nimrodel
Es una elfa silvana del valle de Lothlórien que huyó del reino enano de Khazad – Dûm al caer en manos de los orcos. Otro elfo, Amroth, la siguió y juraron amor y escapar juntos a lugares pacíficos. En medio del camino Nimrodel se pierde y Amroth, habiendo ya esperado demasiado por ella, sigue su camino. Allí cree verla en la orilla y se lanza al agua para alcanzarla, pero muere ahogado.
Gandalf
Es un mago blanco, un espíritu enviado a la Tierra a ayudar a los mortales en su lucha contra Sauron. Su poder es benéfico y aparece en muchos tramos de las historias de Tolkien, tanto en The Hobbit, como Lord Of The Rings, como en el Silmarillion. Su aspecto contribuyó al estereotipo del mago con capa, sombrero en punta y larga barba.
[1975] RIVENDELL - RUSH
En el álbum Flight By Night
Sunlight dances through the leaves
Soft winds stir the signing trees
Lying in the warm grass
Feel the sun upon your face
Elfin songs and endless nights
Sweet wine and soft relaxing lights
Time will never touch you
Here in this enchanted place
You feel there's something calling you
You're wanting to return
To where the misty mountains rise and friendly fires burn
A place you can escape the world
Where the dark lord cannot go
Peace of mind and sanctuary by loud water's flow
I've traveled now for many miles
It feels so good to see the smiles of
Friends who never left your mind
When you were far away
>From the golden light of coming dawn
Till the twilight where the sun is gone
We treasure ev'ry season
And ev'ry passing day
We feel the coming of a new day
Darkness gives way to light a new way
Stop here for a while until the world,
The world calls you away
Yet you know I've had the feeling
Standing with my senses reeling
This is the place to grow old till
I reach my final day.
Soft winds stir the signing trees
Lying in the warm grass
Feel the sun upon your face
Elfin songs and endless nights
Sweet wine and soft relaxing lights
Time will never touch you
Here in this enchanted place
You feel there's something calling you
You're wanting to return
To where the misty mountains rise and friendly fires burn
A place you can escape the world
Where the dark lord cannot go
Peace of mind and sanctuary by loud water's flow
I've traveled now for many miles
It feels so good to see the smiles of
Friends who never left your mind
When you were far away
>From the golden light of coming dawn
Till the twilight where the sun is gone
We treasure ev'ry season
And ev'ry passing day
We feel the coming of a new day
Darkness gives way to light a new way
Stop here for a while until the world,
The world calls you away
Yet you know I've had the feeling
Standing with my senses reeling
This is the place to grow old till
I reach my final day.
La ciudad refugio de Rivendell es mencionada tanto en The Hobbit como en Lord Of The Rings.
THE HOBBIT
1937
LORD OF THE RINGS
1954 – 1955
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (Sudáfrica 1892 – 1973)
Rivendell
Ciudad refugio habitada y gobernada por elfos. Generalmente se la menciona durante el gobierno de Elrond, un medio elfo. Posee un valor estratégico en la planificación de las guerras contra Sauron y varios de los personajes principales tienen alguna relación con la ciudad.
Hobbits
Conforman una raza del mundo imaginario de Tolkien. Son parientes de los hombres, pero de una estatura mucho menor, muy peludos y más gordos. Provienen de los valles del río Anduin, de donde debieron emigrar para establecerse en The Shire. Los personajes Bilbo Bolsón y su sobrino Frodo son de sustancial importancia en las tramas de The Hobbit y Lord Of The Rings. También se los menciona en el Silmarillion.
[1976] THIS SIDE OF THE LOOKING GLASS - PETER HAMMILL
En el álbum Over
El texto de la canción:
The stars in the heavens still shine
up above me: how lovely they'd seem
if you were with me
but you're gone through the looking-glass
and I am left to pass these nights alone.
I'm lost, I'm dumb, I'm blind,
I am drunk with sadness,
sunk by madness -
the wave overwhelms me,
the mirror repels me,
the echo of your laugh
drifts through the looking-glass
and I am alone.
No friendship, no comfort, no future, no home,
the past lingers with me:
you're all the love I've ever known
and without you I'm nothing
but empty and silent,
reflecting on all that I've lost.
I let you slip away so soon.
Can you hear me? This is my song
I am dying; you are gone.
These words are not enough to save my soul,
they just mock me from the mirror.
I'm cold and I'm yearning,
I've told you I'm burning,
my eyes can't stand the light...
Like a stray dog in the night
I'll shuffle off alone.
We all make our futures
but I have lost mine;
I'm hoping for a miracle
but finding no sign....
The stars in the constellations,
each one just sadly flickers and falls...
without you they mean nothing at all.
up above me: how lovely they'd seem
if you were with me
but you're gone through the looking-glass
and I am left to pass these nights alone.
I'm lost, I'm dumb, I'm blind,
I am drunk with sadness,
sunk by madness -
the wave overwhelms me,
the mirror repels me,
the echo of your laugh
drifts through the looking-glass
and I am alone.
No friendship, no comfort, no future, no home,
the past lingers with me:
you're all the love I've ever known
and without you I'm nothing
but empty and silent,
reflecting on all that I've lost.
I let you slip away so soon.
Can you hear me? This is my song
I am dying; you are gone.
These words are not enough to save my soul,
they just mock me from the mirror.
I'm cold and I'm yearning,
I've told you I'm burning,
my eyes can't stand the light...
Like a stray dog in the night
I'll shuffle off alone.
We all make our futures
but I have lost mine;
I'm hoping for a miracle
but finding no sign....
The stars in the constellations,
each one just sadly flickers and falls...
without you they mean nothing at all.
Alusión implícita a Through The Looking Glass And What Alice Found There, de Lewis Carroll.
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS AND WHAT ALICE FOUND THERE
Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (Inglaterra, 1832 – 1898)
1872
Segunda parte de las historias de Alicia. Esta vez se introduce al mundo que está detrás del espejo. Allí tendrá diversos encuentros y experiencias en la misma dirección de nonsense que la obra antecesora. Se cruzará con diversos personajes, dentro del marco de falta de lógica o de lógica transgredida. Si en la primera parte el juego giraba en torno a cartas, en este gira en torno a una partida de ajedrez. Aparecen Tweedledum y Tweedledee, Humpty Dumpty, los reyes y reinas blancos y rojos, entre otros. También aquí se encuentra la poesía Jabberwocky.
[1976] A CHILDLIKE FAITH IN CHILDHOOD'S END - VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR
En el álbum Still Life
Letra del tema.
Existence is a stage on which we pass
a sleepwalk trick for mind and heart:
it's hopeless, I know,
but onward I must go
and try to make a start
at seeing something more than day to day
survival, chased by final death
if I believed this the sum
of the life to which we've come,
I wouldn't waste my breath
Somehow, there must be more. There was a time
when more was felt than known
but now, entrenched inside my sett,
in light more mundane,
thought rattles round my brain:
we live, we die...and yet?
In the beginning there was order and destiny
but now that path has reached the border,
and on our knees
is no way to face the future, whatever it be.
Though the forces which hold us in place
last through eons in unruffled grace
we, too, wear the face of creation.
As anti-matter sucks and pulses periodically
the bud unfolds, the bloom is dead,
all space is living history.
It seems as though time must betray us,
yet we're alive
and though I see no God to save us,
yetl we survive
through the centuries of progress
which don't get us very far.
All illusion! All is bogus -
we don't yet know what we are...
Laughing, hoping, praying, joking, Son of Man!
with lowered eyes but lifting hearts,
we're grains of sand
and though, in time, the sea
may claim us for its own
we are the rocks which root the future -
on us it grows!
We might not be there to share it
if eternity's a jest
but I think that I can bear it
if the next life is the best.
Even if there is a heaven when we die,
endless bliss would be as meaningless as the lie
that always comes as answer to the question,
"Why do we see through the eyes of creation?"
Adrift without a course,
it's very lonely here,
our only conjecture
what lies behind the dark.
Still, I find I can cling to a lifeline,
think of a lifetime which means more
than my own one -
dreams of a grander thing than we are.
Time and Space hang heavy on my shoulders:
when all life is over who can say
no mutated force shall remain?
Though the towers of the city are denied
to we men of clay
still we know we shall scale
the heights some day.
Frightened in the silence -
frightened, but thinking very hard,
let us make computations of the stars.
Older, wiser, sadder, blinder, watch us run:
faster, longer, harder, stronger, now it comes:
colour blisters, image splinters gravitate
towards the centre, in final splendour disintegrate,
The universe now beckons
and Man, too, must take His place...
just a few last fleeting seconds
to wander in the waste,
and the children who were ourselves move on,
reincarnation stills its now perfected song,
and at last we are free of the bonds of creation.
All the jokers and gaolers, all the junkies
and slavers too,
all the throng who have danced a merry tune -
human we can all be,
but Humanity we must rise above,
in the name of all faith and hope and love.
There's a time for all pilgrims,
and a time for the fakers too,
there's a time when we all will stand alone
and nude,
naked to the galaxies -
naked, but clothed in the overview...
as we reach Childhood's End we must start anew.
And though dark is the highway,
and the peak's distance breaks my heart,
for I never shall see it, still I play my part,
believing that what waits for us
is the cosmos compared to the dust of the past...
In the death of mere humans life shall start
a sleepwalk trick for mind and heart:
it's hopeless, I know,
but onward I must go
and try to make a start
at seeing something more than day to day
survival, chased by final death
if I believed this the sum
of the life to which we've come,
I wouldn't waste my breath
Somehow, there must be more. There was a time
when more was felt than known
but now, entrenched inside my sett,
in light more mundane,
thought rattles round my brain:
we live, we die...and yet?
In the beginning there was order and destiny
but now that path has reached the border,
and on our knees
is no way to face the future, whatever it be.
Though the forces which hold us in place
last through eons in unruffled grace
we, too, wear the face of creation.
As anti-matter sucks and pulses periodically
the bud unfolds, the bloom is dead,
all space is living history.
It seems as though time must betray us,
yet we're alive
and though I see no God to save us,
yetl we survive
through the centuries of progress
which don't get us very far.
All illusion! All is bogus -
we don't yet know what we are...
Laughing, hoping, praying, joking, Son of Man!
with lowered eyes but lifting hearts,
we're grains of sand
and though, in time, the sea
may claim us for its own
we are the rocks which root the future -
on us it grows!
We might not be there to share it
if eternity's a jest
but I think that I can bear it
if the next life is the best.
Even if there is a heaven when we die,
endless bliss would be as meaningless as the lie
that always comes as answer to the question,
"Why do we see through the eyes of creation?"
Adrift without a course,
it's very lonely here,
our only conjecture
what lies behind the dark.
Still, I find I can cling to a lifeline,
think of a lifetime which means more
than my own one -
dreams of a grander thing than we are.
Time and Space hang heavy on my shoulders:
when all life is over who can say
no mutated force shall remain?
Though the towers of the city are denied
to we men of clay
still we know we shall scale
the heights some day.
Frightened in the silence -
frightened, but thinking very hard,
let us make computations of the stars.
Older, wiser, sadder, blinder, watch us run:
faster, longer, harder, stronger, now it comes:
colour blisters, image splinters gravitate
towards the centre, in final splendour disintegrate,
The universe now beckons
and Man, too, must take His place...
just a few last fleeting seconds
to wander in the waste,
and the children who were ourselves move on,
reincarnation stills its now perfected song,
and at last we are free of the bonds of creation.
All the jokers and gaolers, all the junkies
and slavers too,
all the throng who have danced a merry tune -
human we can all be,
but Humanity we must rise above,
in the name of all faith and hope and love.
There's a time for all pilgrims,
and a time for the fakers too,
there's a time when we all will stand alone
and nude,
naked to the galaxies -
naked, but clothed in the overview...
as we reach Childhood's End we must start anew.
And though dark is the highway,
and the peak's distance breaks my heart,
for I never shall see it, still I play my part,
believing that what waits for us
is the cosmos compared to the dust of the past...
In the death of mere humans life shall start
Basada en Childhood's End, novela de Arthur C. Clarke
CHILDHOOD’S END
Arthur C. Clarke (Inglaterra, 1917 – 2008)
1953
Novela de ciencia ficción acerca de un encuentro entre extraterrestres que llegan a la Tierra y los seres humanos. La venida tiene por objeto ayudar a los humanos a trascender por encima de sí mismos. Para ello, deberán hacer que los niños se superen con un superdesarrollo de sus facultades psi y su conversión en materia transfigurada, lo cual supone un apocalipsis de la humanidad tal cual es. La obra plantea la paradoja de que estos superseñores extraterrestres van haciendo dar estos saltos cualitativos a diferentes especies en el universo, pero ellos no tienen la capacidad física de hacer lo mismo. Este proceso de apoteosis debería llevar a una especie de fusión cósmica en una supermente. Pero los superseñores aún no pueden alcanzar ese estado y esperan poder aprender a hacerlo del último humano en transfigurarse.
En una próxima entrega, transitaremos desde mediados de los '70 hasta los '00.
Hasta pronto
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