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Dance Floor At The End Of Time

“Dance Floor at the Edge of Time” is a tribute to all the creatures who have spent so much longer on this earth than we have. I draw inspiration from Loren Eiseley’s book THE IMMENSE JOURNEY (1955), where he traces the long evolution it took to create these creatures… which are so quickly disappearing due to our overbearing presence.

Here we stand at the edge of time (end of time, edge of time)

Place your trembling hand in mine … hold on now

 

Down below the rulers writhe, shake their fists and blind our eyes

How many thousand million years brought us here?

 

VERSE ONE:

Microbes from the broiling seas

Ride the coasts in murky green

Flowers, nectar, warbling tongues

Explode in forests, feed the young

 

CHORUS

Here we stand at the end of time (edge of time, end of time)

Place your trembling hand in mine … hold on now

 

VERSE TWO:

Creatures tumbling to survive

Roots & vines & insect eyes

Cheetah, tortoise, whale, frog

Salamanders under logs

 

CHORUS – Possible chorus change:

Here we stand at the edge of time (end of time, edge of time)

Place your trembling hand in mine … mine in yours

& yours in mine

 

VERSE THREE

Spiders in their midnight dens

Owls who ponder quivering stems

These are us & we are them

Must we see it end?

 

CHORUS

Here we stand and face the moon, watching from her perch

What will it take to turn around, grasp the hand of earth?

 

Friends around the world arise, clasp the hand of earth…

© 2023 Terry Hermsen

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