STRANGE CONVERSATION lyrics inspired by Hermann Broch, "The Death of Virgil" I heard they had a strange conversation the night Virgil died He held his frail head up and said I think I wish I’d never tried To dive down through the darkness, to climb up through the blue Because beauty without cruelty is ever so much worse than untrue Let it burn, let it burn, let it burn And even the divine inspiration of Orpheus’ song It ends with the singing, the spell can only last as long Then men fall back to blindness, the streams refind their beds The wild beasts rise back up and spill the blood of innocents Let it burn, let it burn, let it burn And our arms branched out like rivers, Our body filled the world, The moon hung in our hair, And the starry night unfurled... Now are all the waves set to foaming on Ilium’s strand And all my life’s labor feels like just a feather in my hand So no more I’ll be your keeper, or sing these songs for you Take all these useless verses and please take this useless body too Let it burn, let it burn, let it burn