Renaissance Land
by Andrew Calhoun, written on Matinicus Island 2017, based on Dee Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.
Out here in Renaissance land,
A tardy reconnaissance man
Brought blueprints to the plan,
Packed up in a prospecting pan,
Oh, and—"What’s for breakfast?'
Oh, and—'What’s for lunch?'
Can you guess the next question?
O mercy, Captain Crunch.
I had a ditch to wallow,
I had a storm to fend;
I had a prince to follow,
And yet a fence to mend
Out here in Renaissance land.
There's nothing left to borrow,
Out where the heart’s been had,
Where now there’s only sorrow,
No reason to be sad;
You lost in hesitation,
To look before you leap,
The dream was dead already
Before you fell asleep.
It’s only for the pleasure ,
A strip show for the blind,
We wander from the treasure
We ever seek to find,
Out here in Renaissance land.
And oh, my father’s sins,
And oh, my mother’s merit
Praise the humble thing
That nothing will inherit,
The name of glory hostage,
The shuffle in the tongue,
The shifting of the language,
The hanging days begun,
We want what you got,
The beauty and the sum,
A blessing from your bloody throat,
Your promise peace will come,
Out here in Renaissance land.