Ballad of C'Mell/Lord Jestocost

kavin.

based on the science fiction story “Ballad of Lost C’Mell” by Cordwainer Smith.

Recorded for the 2020 RPM Challenge

Lyrics:

Lord Jestocost

She’s a cat and she’s a girl
But she’s not equal in this world
I am lord of all I see
This is the Instrumentality

My love for her I cannot show
I cannot let betray
Underlings are people too but they are put below
I would bring them up above
Change the minds of all true men
If I could find the way

C’mell is catatonic
She purrs and then she sleeps
Euphoric smiles are hypersonic
When she leaves the sunrise weeps

I probed her thoughts
And saw the one who leads
The underpeoples’ cause
And we broke into the Bell and Bank
I changed all the laws

Lovely C’Mell grew old but kept her fiery hair
and when we left this life
I knew we’d be together forever
In the memory of men