John Cale
Julius Caesar (Memento Hodié)
[Verse 1]
Amidst water lily fields, white and green
Grows a tree
And from the tree hang apples
Not for you to eat
In a way it matters more
Than it did before
To see the East voyaging through
True hearts of dunes
Mirth, birth, reverie
[Verse 2]
There in harmony
Somersault caravans of fools
As he passes for reply
To sing his songs again
He sways to kiss the horizontal ground
And from the ground a dove rises
And as a mark of honor
A mask is left behind
Mirth, birth, reverie
[Verse 3]
There in harmony
To gentle form and noble force
Calm and vast, his voice cascades
From his gentle stage
Calm and vast, the city lies
On a horizontal ground
Kind and calm, Julius lies
For Octavian to prevail
Mirth, birth, reverie
[Verse 4]
In harmony, traverses the peninsula
Aeolus with his whisper-winds to strike
With his gentle kisses
The righteous and wise
And doom ambitious praise with his will
His will and order
Mirth, birth, reverie
[Verse 5]
Amidst water lily fields, white and green
Grows a tree
And from the tree hang apples
Not for you to eat
Beneath the heaving sea
Where statues and pillars and stone altars
Rest for all these aching bones
To guide us far from energy
Mirth, birth, reverie