The Colonial Wing - Natalie Merchant
Here is the storehouse of Her Majesty
well guarded by sentry
but looks are free
Call this the rayless and benighted age
witches by tallow candles
shifted their shapes
Here is the pestle and mortar
that ground the poison seed
a lute, a suit for jousting
and the poems of a balladeer
when all the Latin books were copied off
in golden script
hoarded away in
a monastery crypt
Superstition beyond belief
Over mountain, over dune and over sea
crude map and compass lead the caravan
and lead the fleet
here is the loot and plunder
they bore home
ivory tusk inlaid with precious stone
raw silk and spices by the barrel load
a soft skin drum with mallets
of human bone
A world wide rampage
rampage of greed
So here the tour concludes
the colonial wing
the rooms of the most refined
museum property
An early pair of spectacles
a claw footed divan
ornate clocks with birds that strut
on the half hours and quarter hours
Hear them chime
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