The Rise and Fall

They came from the East

They brought horses to our cultivated lands

They gave power to our have-nots, they took our culture

They brought new customs to our burial grounds

Broadened the bases of our history, they came from the East

Replaced our despots with their Caliphates

Conquered but tolerated our gods

They brought us wisdom

They brought a zero to our tired calculations

They guarded knowledge we'd forgotten

They came from the East

Byzantium (a city of moths)

Crumbled into a dust that plunged Europe into the dark

Constantinople (a metropolis of candles)

Brought light to our books as Europe forgot how to read

Let's make this stage our Rubicon

Let's cast a die

Let's let history decide

And as I cross it

I chase Aeneas back to his ships

I bring the rhythm back to the hips

And as Rome is consumed

As I fiddle this whisper tune on these strings, friends

I have no need of your ears

So let's make this stage our Rubicon

Our frozen Rhine

Our yippie picket line, and I Caesar Hoffmann

And as I cross it

I bring the Central Asian steppe sweeping into the wilds of Europe

I make my bedroom Rome

I make this city my home

I am Remus come from the dead

Come to tell you all to sack this city tonight

Let's sack this city tonight

Because I always heard better in the dark

Thus immersed in barbarous longing