"I am king of all I see, my kingdom for a voice"
-- R.E.M., King of Birds, 1987


Is this what the minstrels meant?
The words never heard in the colliseums:
Buddy you're a young man, hard man,
Shouting in the street
gonna take on the world some day,
You got blood on your face,
You big disgrace,
Waving your banner all over the place.

I blame them for the bluster.
I blame them for the ulterior.
I blame them for the truth.

Is this gravel underfoot?
What madness has transpired,
from the valleys to the mountaintops?
These ashes that lay so soft,
where there were buildings,
busy sidewalks and crossings,
rollerblades and segways,
how could it have come to this?

I blame them for their weakness.
I blame them for their inadequacies.
I blame them for their lack of vision.

Is this my neighbor in the winds?
I guess the answer was "against".
The air is difficult for me to breathe...
How long will it be?
Before I grow ill like them,
before I fade and degrade,
given to the vermin
that bustle through these ruins.

I blame them for something.
I blame them for anything.
I blame them for everything.

Is the future spoken in years or days?
It wasn't supposed to be this way.
Somebody should have stopped them,
but there were too many things to do—
too much money to make,
too many goals to achieve,
too many guides to behave,
and in the end I'd be saved.

I blame them for their ultimatums.
I blame them for horrid decisions.
I blame them for leaving me nothing.

Is this where the music rises up?
The chosen one and his nation of dust:
We are the champions - my friends,
And we'll keep on fighting,
Till the end,
We are the champions,
We are the champions,
No time for losers,

Cause we are the champions...of the World.


___________________________________________________

Lines marked for italics Copyright 1977, Queen
Lines from "We Will Rock You", by B. May
Lines from "We Are the Champions", by F. Mercury

An experimental blend, with respects and apologies to their source.

03/03/2002

Posted on 03/03/2002
Copyright © 2024 D. Xavier Bari