Big lizard is crawling out of his hole
‘Cause he believes that it’s going to rain
But when he slowly opens his weary eyes
He sees it’s so sunny again
And all the sand is there
And the rocks stand so fair
And the air is so bright
The horizon so right
Yes everything is just so… the same
But then he’s aware
Something moves in the air
He knows there’s approaching a prey
Here comes the Mayfly buzzing a song so gay
While making loops in the sky
The world is so nice and fine on her birthday
She thanks her Lord she’s a fly
Then she sees a
Stranger, still as a statue in the sun
With a skin like a glove, old fashioned and rough
Like lost and remembered by none
Big lizard, it’s him, true to his instinct
Mechanically rolls out his tongue
The meal is small but after all
The activity won’t take very long
But then he’s struck dumb
Something seriously goes wrong
Squint-eyed he looks
To the Mayfly who took
His handsome pink tongue
As a place to rest where there is some shade
And to wash the sand out off her eyes
Just when you want to land there is this runway
What a wonderful day for a fly
Then she sees
The big eyes of Lizard moisten with tears
And she realizes this creature is alive
While big Lizard thinks of all those empty years
Because he knows he is going to die
And the Mayfly asks “what’s wrong
But let me first leave your tongue;
Speak frankly and free, my Dear”
Big Lizard sighs deep
And he begins slowly to speak
Of what is kept in his old heart for years:
“Now that I perish
I’ve to forget about Paris
The place where I’ve always wanted to be
They say that there are flowers
And iron towers
And clouds and rivers and trees
And I know where it lies
At the end of the sky
Just there, where the sun always goes down
I’ve so long dreamed
That one day I’ll be
In that place which they call a town
If it had only rained for one week
I should have quit the desert and seek
To that place which no lizard had found
But the years of longing have gone
And I can scarcely move my tongue
Today I’ll die and bitterly dry
Up in the sun”
Well and the Mayfly says: I’m going to stay
‘cause it’s so sad and lonely to die
But I can mourn for only the end of the day
For that’s the nature of the life of a fly
But I’ll close your eyes