I wrote this song to take the To Bring On The Night speech slot (Beyond the Reach of God, No Royal Road...) for an all-music solstice. Not yet tested.
Here's to the folk of Easter Island
Who's art we admire today
Their numbers and powers have dwindled
With the trees they required gone away
And here's to the lords of Mississippi
Mysterious builders of mounds
They knew not the plagues that assailed them
We know not the names of their towns
Yes and here's to the final Western Romans
Devoured from without and within
Our scholars still ask just what failed them
Or how any cure might begin
So we pour out a toast to the fallen
And another for those time forgot
Who strove with the last ounce of courage
But strove with enough they did not
Here's to the good old League of Nations
Whose quest was 'Prevent World War'
They hardly impeded the second
Now let's see how we face three and four
And here's to the ones who saw it coming
Whose warnings the world did not heed
And here's to the ones who died working
But had not the clues that they'd need
Yes and here's to the ones who wanted better
But dared not take eyes off their foes
And here's to their mansions that burned down
The fires quite unquenched by their blows
So we pour out a toast to the fallen
And another for those time forgot
Who strove with the last ounce of courage
But strove with enough they did not
Yes we pour out a toast to the fallen
And a toast for the ones who now fall
And we wonder if someday somebody
Will pour out a toast for us all
