The Earth That
Followed the City

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Strumentale: nessun testo.

At nine every morning the houses convene
With curtains drawn straight and their doorsteps swept clean
The cupboards report that the plates are intact
The walls read the minutes and file every crack

The staircases count
The footsteps they knew
The windows compare
Their memories of you

The rooms reach agreement
The hallway objects
The roof keeps a record
Of names it protects

At noon every garden submits its appeal
The roses insist that the seasons were real
The chimney presents all the smoke it retained
The bedroom produces one fragment of rain

The carpets remember
The weight of your chair
The mirrors maintain
You are still standing there

The floorboards give evidence
Under the dust
The doors remain certain
That leaving was just

The ceiling lowers
The wallpaper turns
A lamp in the passage
Silently burns

The house has requested your presence.
The house has requested your presence.

The windows open
The staircase divides
The rooms begin moving
From opposite sides

Who gave the walls permission to follow?
Nobody left them behind.

At dusk every house leaves its place in the ground
The streets lose their numbers without making sound
The gardens rise slowly, the chimneys turn blue
A country of rooms starts travelling toward you

The cupboards are empty
The mirrors are clear
The doors stand wide open
With nobody near

The houses keep moving
Through darkness and foam

While everyone inside the city
Continues calling them home

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At first the sea became a line
A thread of blue against the night
It lifted from the turning world
And gathered slowly into light

The harbours emptied into space
The rivers left their ancient beds
A silver current crossed the stars
And opened high above our heads

No rain descended from the dark
No wave returned to any shore
The ocean formed a vaulted roof
Where empty sky had been before

We saw the ships inside the blue
Still drifting where the winds had died
Their lanterns burned above the streets
With all the drowned bells locked inside

The city held its breath below
The water turned without a sound

No drop would fall
No cloud would break
No sea remembered ground

The ocean arched from world to world
A bridge no living hand had made
The towers cast their shadows upward
Through the deep electric shade

Above the roofs
Above the flame

The sea has risen
Without a name

A blue rim crossed the morning
And cut the daylight thin
The towers lost their shadows
As the larger dark moved in

The Sun became a silver thread
Along the planet's side
The city watched the final light
Grow narrower and hide

At noon the lamps were burning
The gardens closed in frost
The clocks continued forward
Though every hour was lost

A child drew one black circle
Then placed a smaller flame
Inside the empty centre
Where the morning should have been

The oceans filled the upper glass
The continents turned slow
A storm moved over distant fields
Too close and far below

No star remained around the Earth
No moon remained in sight
The planet occupied the sky
And gave the city night

The rooftops began humming
The windows answered blue
The air grew heavy in the streets
As if the dark passed through

The bells rang without movement
The wires carried snow
The city leaned toward the world
But no one felt it go

Do not look away
Do not name the dark
The light is still behind it

A blade of gold appeared at last
Along the planet's rim
The walls recovered colour
The towers gathered wind

But every room remained half-dark
And every face looked pale
For Earth still filled the western sky
Beyond the returning veil

The Sun came back
The distance did not

How many turns remain to us?
Only one
How many engines still respond?
Only one

The western wheel had lost its flame
The eastern tower called our name
The city crossed its former track
With Earth approaching at its back

The engineers erased the charts
The council sealed the lower parts
But every bridge and avenue
Had already begun to move

Who marked the point where we must turn?
No one did
Who chose the road that we must burn?
No one did

The orbit narrowed through the blue
The distance split the city through
One final curve remained in space
Before the world would fill our place

The rooftops faced the planet's light
The windows opened to the night
The engines held a single tone
And every street began to groan

No road behind
No path ahead

Only the circle
Around the dead

No hand above
No ground below

Only the turn
The engines know

For one suspended moment
The city ceased to fall

The Earth became the ceiling
And the sky became a wall

Who gives the order to begin?
The city does
Who turns the outer towers in?
The city does

The western wheel regained its flame
The eastern tower spoke our name
The final orbit opened wide
And turned the city toward the tide

One road remains
We take it now

One world remains
We face it now

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Strumentale: nessun testo.