Performance
I Would Burn the World
You were in the meadow
Picking flowers with your friends
Just like all those times before
We ever knew what sorrow meant.
You were so excited,
Like the day when you were born
When you smiled up at me
And I knew that I would burn the world
If it keeps you smiling.
Then the earth broke open
And the Host-of-Many rose,
And with his deathless horses,
Dragged you down beneath the misty dark and
To his hellish home.
You were screaming for your father
You were screaming for your friends
And you cried my name,
But I could not hear you then.
And no one of gods or mortals
Underneath the barren sky
None but Hecate
From her deep cave heard you cry.
So she came to meet me
Holding torches in her hands
She said, “Some man or god has taken your daughter,
But who? I could not see”
So we asked the Sun God
For he gazes on all things
And he said, “Don’t worry,
Her daddy’s got it all arranged
She’ll have heaps of honors,
Hades is a great catch,
You should be so proud.
Stop this silly anger,
Don’t you weep
There’s no reason to cry anymore
Stop being so unreasonable.”
They can say you’re better off now
They can beg and praise and fawn
But I will never be okay now you are gone
Let the people die of famine
Let the barley fall in vain
I’ll let nothing grow
’til I see your face again
The gods can keep their useless honors
They can keep their thrones of gold
I will make them pay for the way
They hurt you so
So they let you come home
And I held you in my arms
But Hades in secret
Forced you to eat
A pomegranate seed
So for two thirds of the year
You’re with me in glorious light
But when winter comes
You sink beneath the earth and rule all who have died.
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