(I left this unpublished for many years because, well, spoilers. But Absinthe Heroes was the first or second Steampunk Rock Opera, and it’s been out for 10 years. And this still doesn’t tell you how it ends.)
(The original version of this claimed that Absinthe Heroes was ‘the first’ Steampunk rock opera. That’s rather unkind to Paul Shapera and ‘The Dolls of New Albion‘, which has at least as strong a claim, and rather a bigger name.
I still quite love the show, though. Both shows, really.)
MAYOR:
Into the blue! Into the blue!
How godly their ascent
Surely for stretching heavenword
The hands of Man are meant
We tame the very skies above
We own this element
As to the will of Man the saphire
Firmament is bent.
Into the blue! The naked blue!
Into the blue, into the blue
Stretching over space
As each barrier to commerce
We brilliantly erase
In five or ten or twenty years
This will be commonplace
Each wonder will be more mundane–
That’s the hallmark of our race.
ANTIKYTHERA:
Crave pardon, but I must raise
A slightly dissenting voice
Not everything is easy.
Not everything’s your choice.
I’ve fed the winds a potion sweet
They listen now to me
I’ll take your ships; and your crews perish
In the etheric sea
Into the dark! Into the dark!
How human your ascent!
You had some tools, and never thought
To see what they all meant
You looked not high enough
Saw the heavens as a tent
Now all your hopes and plans are
In a thousand pieces, rent.
Into the black! The ever-hungry black!
My name is Jeff Mach (“Dark Lord” is optional) and I build communities, put on events, and make stories come into being. I also tweet a lot over @darklordjournal.
