Melancholia

Up on the Hill

 up on the hill is a smelter, been there

a hundred years,

       a hundred fifty years, something like that,

and day in and day out all the people and their sons

   spend their time going in

              and out of that place, to earn a living,

and you spend your whole life living, and waiting and knowing

   you're gonna end up there too,

             not that there's anything wrong with that.

it's a good way to earn a good living,

        and it is, especially as you're flipping burgers

or mixing drinks

                             for some idiot who's making more than you do

  in the first place, and you find yourself

           toying with the idea;

  you tell yourself

           or your wife

  or your girlfriend

                              'i could go up there. it'd be a good idea.

        we'd be able to afford that house then,

                    and the car payments wouldn't be a problem',

   but you don't write enough anymore

               as it is,

                                        but thats okay you tell yourself

because it'll only be for awhile,

                 until you can find out what it is

   you're supposed to be doing,

         but for forty years now

    those people have been going up there

                       and earning a decent salary,

       and they have a good life,

                        from the outside at least it looks like,

   but that's where that forty years always started,

     

         as a temporary gig,

                  cause you got nothing better to do

  and nothing wrong

                             with putting money away when you're young.

      and nothing wrong with that,

              a lot of people are happy up there

 in the rail yard

                        or in the slag pits

   or wherever else,

                                   cause it's real work too,

    makes you sweat

                                     so you know when the day is done

   but i don't think

                          i'd be able to see the stars

   from the inside of a factory,

                                                        least not as well as i would like to,

         and it's for all these reasons

                             that a lot of the youth,

                    i would've liked to be with them,

    made a great exodus

                                           as soon as they were cut loose

          and went out and made something of themselves

                     doing whatever,

    though,

                  a lot of them just went into similar places

elsewhere,

                        because i think that's the main point of it all, isn't it?

          going elsewhere?

                        because we need to leave the nest at some point,

  or want to. i know i do.

                                             but as much as i wouldn't be able to see the stars up on that hill,

          i've been to other places

                                                     where they're just as invisible,

        but down at the bottom of that hill

                                                                    i can see them just fine

       and i know i'll have to come back every now and then

             just for that.