Creation in fables

Creation in fables Brian Hooper November 2006

We dug through the mountains, built bridges 'cross valleys

Built castles and fountains and dark little alleys

We tore down the timber for fires and tables

And only remember creation in fables

This was the land of the wolf and the wild boar

Too tough to struggle for, beyond the beyond

First came the Romans, their Emperor conquering all he saw

Then came the railways and the wolves they were gone.

We dug through the mountains ….

This was an Eden, where life was simplicity

Peace and tranquillity, fishing and farms

Now they burn coal and flood valleys to make electricity

And tourists in shorts fly to see all its charms.

We dug through the mountains ……

There was the land of Comanche and Navaho

Home of the buffalo, wide as the sky

Stolen and plundered by Conquistadores and Englishmen

Turned to a dustbowl, its rivers run dry.

Down to the floor of the deepest dark ocean

Up to the planets, no counting the cost

I have no answer to offer but this is my question

Where is the frontier we dare not to cross?

We dug through the mountains ……

On holiday in Mallorca in the autumn of 2006, we went on a train ride. The train goes through tunnels in the mountains, one being 3km long, which must have been fun when the train ran on steam. The railway was opened on 16 April 1912, ignored by the world’s press as the Titanic disaster unfolded. It opened up a previously remote area, and I found myself wondering if that was a good thing.

The chorus of this song came to me, in its entirety, while I was walking to church one Sunday morning. Fortunately I was a bit early and had time to find a quiet corner and write it down.

Chorus:

D G A D Bm Em A D D7 G A D Bm Em A G D

Verse:

D A G D G D G D / D G D G D A G D