Rite of Spring
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We chain the body to the rock in the fall
Before the first snow
All through the winter on clear days you can see it
About three hundred meters from the summit
That white lump there on the face below the avalanche slope
Oh, as long as it's frozen it can't feel anything
So it's none the worse for it
But of late the pale sun grows stronger
And the blood in the body will be melting now
And beginning to stir
By now it may have warmed sufficiently
To begin to force its way into the shrunken veins
You can't imagine the pain
In the warming of nerve endings so long dormant
A thousand frostbitten fingers over fire
Wouldn't amount to half an idea of it
By now the sun is softening the flesh
But the sun won't soften the rock nor melt those chains
Those are hundred percent high grade steel
The mountain will tear them out without even noticing
When her winter coat comes off
But till then that body's not going anywhere
See the glittering white up there above the body?
That's the foot of a glacier
It's rotting now
Ice water is running out from under it
Down the wall and over the body
Stealing its new warmth
And adding torment from outside to the pain swelling within
If the weather holds it won't be long till break-up
It starts at the top
Sharp cracking as the ice tears away from the mountain's face
A low rumbling as it begins to slide
A rumble such as you'd think the planet herself was going to be sick
As that mass begins to move
Tons of it
Tearing out trees and rocks and everything in its path
And accelerating as it goes
Headed for the river
Everything in nature flushes into the river, you know
Usually the body's not alive enough to know what's happening
But sometimes it is
Sometimes it hears the sound
There are years it's strong enough to
Lift its head and look to the light
Now that makes for a brief moment of truth
It's interesting to observe through a telescope or
But to see it you'd have to sit here watching for a couple of days
Maybe a week
Maybe more
That's how nature cleans herself, you see
It's all part of the cycle
And it's been going on since long before you were born, sonny