1. We’re in the Rococo universe –
Sure, it resembles where we’ve been before,
This home is not our first.
Though it reminds you some of what we one time had
On that ball that we called Earth,
We're living in the Rococo universe.
1a. We missed our chance at Renaissance,
And then we sidestepped the Baroque,
And passing up the best parts
Moved us right into Rococo –
A place of fantasy, frills and smoke.
1b. To get here we watched worlds collide
And reduce themselves to sparks.
Then later borne on a vacant storm,
We reached the place where nothing made its mark –
Just a tempest in a teacup full of quarks.
2. We’re in the Rococo universe –
To find it we took one step forward,
Two steps in reverse.
You may be wishing that here was someplace else,
But you’ll soon get past the quirks
Of living in the Rococo universe.
2a. Here light arrives before it left,
That way the past must always look like new.
But we still have three dimensions now,
Give or taking one or two.
And reflections look much more lifelike than me or you.
2b. We say memory can’t much matter here;
It could be this, it could be that.
You know, it had to squeeze through a narrow chute,
So we forgot what we were looking at.
Like consequence or gravity, it slid right through the cracks.
3. We’re in the Rococo universe,
Just trying to convince ourselves
Things could have turned out worse.
No, we’re not trading down from what we had,
And who knows if fate itself can be reversed
This time inside the Rococo universe?
Bridge:
Now we had to scratch the surface of
So many universes,
Finding one that would accept us we are.
Don’t we know some universes
Just keep turning up curses,
Such was ours, plain unlucky from the start.
3a. Evolution runs both directions now,
You can watch it happen if you stay.
New life rises from the ashes,
Then it slowly crawls away,
Creeping into the brand new day.
3b. There’ll be no need to name so many animals,
Sad that Adam and Eve will be denied.
But everyone gets to name their own god,
Nobody gets to judge who’s right.
And nations will all be the greatest, each for one night.
4. The Rococo universe –
That’s the kind of world you come to
When your fortunes have reversed.
Yes, we had to leave the old world behind
Before things got much worse –
Are we lonely in the Rococo universe?
4a. We had it wrong, believed for too long
That time is always on our side.
What could be bad to spend all we had,
With nothing left to sell but pride?
Look, we’ve even made the rainbow hide!
4b. Here language runs in a circular path,
The way we’re best accustomed to.
We’ve left out words like “humankind”
Which kept making us confused.
Don't we shake out the cosmic curtains as we choose?
5. Here in the Rococo universe,
We set out to forge a new world
But everything reverts.
We couldn’t wait to see the emptiness fill up
From high atop our perch
Inside the Rococo universe.
5a. Yes, we were knocking about in empty space,
Wondering where best to fit in.
Nobody answered when we called,
So we went up and let ourselves in.
If nothing better, then we might at least find our kin.
5b. Someday we’ll see all sides at once,
But reality deals 'til then.
Will those who experienced hell on earth
Have to live through it again?
Can they escape both where and when?
6. This Rococo universe –
It’s the kind of world you come to
When all else fails first.
Since light can travel backwards here, you know,
And time ticks in reverse,
We may be saved inside the Rococo universe.