For ten thousand years the people wandered the wide grassland
That reached from the far mountains down to the ocean sand
Far across the prairie where the land rolls like the sea
They wandered through their generations, they were free
As the creatures they hunted and they prayed to the land and sky
In thanks for the days they were given until they'd lie down to die
Those people were so small and few that they could disappear
Along the river bottoms and valleys like the deer
They could wander all their lives and not cover all the ground
From the deep rivers to the high lakes of the hills all around
But it was a land so rich that it attracted from a distant land
People who's ways were so different they could not understand
That the only treasure in that country was in the free air
And they dug deep into the ground to find what wealth was there
On an island just offshore they built a tower with a light
To mark the entrance to their great country on the darkest night
All summer long they grew tall grasses to harvest a vast crop
And store them in the tower to burn up in the lighthouse top
The lighthouse drew immigrants from countries far away
They moved out all across the land and settled there to stay
The ancient people of the land moved out farther to the hills
Away from the noise of the mines and farms and mills
Then around that whole great land the settlers built a wall
To surround their property and protect it all
From any foreign invaders who sought to do them harm
Guards stood ready on the wall to sound the alarm
But they forgot an old lesson passed down from their kin
How every great wall must be destroyed from within
And when their enemies found them there was no place to hide
The wall they built to keep them safe trapped them all inside
Toward this wide country we sailed on our quest
Fulfilling our imperial duty we continued without rest
The sea had risen up behind us as we sailed to the east
The wind became a steady driving gale that never ceased
The priestess in her locker was comfortable I knew
She had made a few friends there among the crew
They brought her food and company and kept her secret well
From those who made her a prisoner, none of us would tell
The captain or the ministers of court, and we made a plan
To smuggle her off the ship when we made land
And I had taken a fever from the sea or foreign air
I huddled down below deck away from the sun's bright glare
But some golden sunlight found me even in the hold
And seemed to burn deep inside me in the damp and cold
I lay writhing and burning and felt myself lift towards the sky
The bright gold light blinded my tightly closed eyes
Finally the light shrunk down to become a tiny golden spark
That spun and whirled and drifted in circles in the dark
And when my eyes opened I was looking out to sea
The spark was a distant lighthouse there in front of me
The fifth wonder of the the world was that lighthouse in the bay
We set our anchor there early the next day
They were a warlike people and would not let us near
Their lighthouse to take it away, so we had to steer
Farther along the shoreline, we landed on the sand
Of a beach nearby where we found a place to land
And gathered all the grasses that they used to fuel their fire
That burned high above us in the lighthouse pyre
The people there were gathering with obvious hostility
By the time we'd filled our hold and set sail back out to sea
