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Meridian Lyrics
In the burning days
Of unnatural light
I took a long drive
Into the evening
On the barracks road
past the generals' eyes
down to the seawall
where the waves stand by
The enormous lull
then the roar in the sky
and then the searchlights
over the airfield
And over the ocean
winging low
I saw the first wave
and the flares that fall
like fireflies
on the islands
In the boom and swell
from the waves to the heights
reverberations
of our old lives
Like a golden bell
that would ring through the night
and then the front moves
and we raise our eyes
in the silence of the islands
Of unnatural light
I took a long drive
Into the evening
past the generals' eyes
down to the seawall
where the waves stand by
then the roar in the sky
and then the searchlights
over the airfield
winging low
I saw the first wave
and the flares that fall
like fireflies
on the islands
from the waves to the heights
reverberations
of our old lives
that would ring through the night
and then the front moves
and we raise our eyes
in the silence of the islands
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This song, and the album, begins with the Bikinian anthem, quoted later in "Uniforms":
"I jab ber emol, aet, i jab ber ainmon ion kineo im bitu kin ailon eo ao im melan ko ie"
"No longer can I stay; it's true. No longer can I live in peace and harmony. No longer can I rest on my sleeping mat and pillow Because of my island and the life I once knew there."
This song and "Missing Islands" are bookends for the album, depicting basically the same scene.
Beautiful song! Along with 'On The Death Of The Waters' one of the best opening songs on an album. To me, this song is about nuclear tests/ a nuclear explosion somewhere, perhaps on an island. The last two parts of the song discribe the explosion and the aftermath.