The first ape soon will take a knee and pledge his will to soil
Then he will erect his temples to defy his coil
And once up high, he'll dread the sky and long for land's embrace

It all began with flowers with leaves both sharp and round
A simian Mephistopheles
A Promethean still bound

The first ape on new Earth will wade through fields of glass
Some reflect his lips, others contain the stars in double-helix shards
The first State will draw breath in rhyming pantomime
The rose blades dance in time

He forges now a chain so cruel and names it's every link
After the astronomers, the wormholes and doctrines
Cast 'round the Moon, then 'round the Sun but never long enough

Knife flowers bloom in daggers with poison-coated tips
Our simian Mephistopheles
Holds two in every grip

The first ape on new Earth will wade through fields of glass
Some reflect his lips, others contain the stars in double-helix shards

Terrified and in mid-flight, his test-tube feathers crack
Raining down tar-like religions and sulphuric art
And there up high he'll try to shine but never bright enough

Dagger tips to rosary beads in his celestial noose
Our simian Mephistopheles
A Promethean so cold

The first ape on new Earth now wishes he were last
He's finally shed his skin
And he has fashioned wings
That just as soon he'd clip

The last ape in the seas
Is a god that knows no bound
The last ape in the seas
Yet grows weak at the knees
When his mind breaks new ground