In ancient days, I wrote one of the first Steampunk rock operas, “Absinthe Heroes”. I wanted to follow the ancient musical-theatre tradition of explaining the Villain’s plan in a single song. It’s not been performed in five years, and I thought I might, just might, explain how Dr. Antikythera intended to Take Over The World.
Does it matter
What the tools are?
I have figures, I have charts
I’m a master of machines
But I will win through the human heart
I’ve said before
I’ll say again
In my soul, I am a chocolatier
You gain a world, not with a gun,
For desire conquers fear:
I’ve got of field of poppies
Skillfully cross-bred
And a dozen tiny pistons
In each flower-head…
Don’t stifle hope
For if you do
You can be sure one day
Some upstart brat
With shining eyes
Will wipe your works away.
Don’t be a tyrant
Don’t be a parent
Those rulers last not long
But let humans
Be human beings
And you might not go far wrong
I’ve got a field of poppies
They’ve mild telepathic powers
They sometimes use them to seduce
Other sorts of flowers.
Don’t assume
They won’t be stupid
For humans often will
Don’t assume
They won’t be brilliant
They’ll be both–
It’s a skill
But give them something
They can love
Something they’ll covet
Not chemically addictive but
Hard to forget
Oh, in my field of poppies
Clockwork men stand guard
To nurture them and care for them
(And sometimes to play cards)
I grow my own
Intoxicants
Better than wine
Better than any drug
Harder to decline
Nothing’s so sweet–
And yet the tongue
Is carefully seduced
It’s done with science–
Or magic; I
Forget which I produced
I’ll take your antigravity
For my microgametophytes
The pollen of my poppies will
Achieve transatlantic flight
They’ll seed the Earth –
For just one Spring
And after that will die
Only one soul
Can bring them back
As you might assume – I
Could it go wrong?
Of course it could.
We don’t control all fate.
But experiments
Will keep me young
I can afford to wait.
It won’t be easy; it won’t be safe
There’ll be some death and such
But relatively speaking
It probably won’t be too much
Does it matter
What the tools are?
I have figures, I have charts
I’m a master of machines
But I will win through the human heart.
