Space, Op 3: Tierra Eterna
January 2019, Gibson Chase-Pinkney

Locked in an orbit of a typical kind
In as ordinary a system as you’d ever find
Is a planet more strange than any mystical lore
But let me recount, for you’re new through this shuttle door
And I feel a bit better when I’m not on my own

When you live on this world, it’s inexplicably grand
Maybe a compound in the water, or the salt in the sand
For life on this planet stops time’s progression
But you’re left with no egress From the planet’s possession
So you grow in your wisdom, with no way to go home

And you live an erudite life,
As you converse with the globe
That holds you there with no strife
For Its gift, you remain, so that it’s never alone
And you speak, of each fact of reality
And the mystique, of ideas of solipsism and duality

But never can you use your wisdom or skill
The world holds you there with unbreakable will
Part of a menagerie of eternal playthings,
There to tell stories, craft artworks or sing

For a planetary intelligence of staggering breadth
Content to keep you there without sickness or death        
A companion eternal, a being supreme
Your divine benefactor in a near-endless dream

You might wonder how I know of such a mythical place
Yet waste away in a station far into deep space
As a young man I passed up a trip
Coordinates locked, in a trustworthy ship
But it seemed, at the time, despite the bounties it gives
You can’t die on tierra eterna, but you can’t really live

Questions about this song? Email me at gibson@gibson.show