Magellan and the Whole Wide World

If you sail around the eastern tip
Of Tahjnanistan

You can see a star
Dipping its toe in the blue ocean water

Right before shooting up into the sky

That's right

In certain parts of this world
It is possible
To see a thirsty star

Miraculous, isn't it?

I reached the Port of Pau de Sice
Eighteen weeks ago
And when I arrived there
The entire country was being run
By a woman named Olive
Who was only six years old

She ruled that land with an iron fist
Although with nobody to rule
The fist was not as intimidating
As one might presume

At the northern tip of the island
Of Northern Tip
There is a patch of snow
That sits right underneath the sun
And doesn't melt

The entire island has brought their economy
To a standstill
Waiting for the snow to melt
Even though
It doesn't seem like it will

All of the islanders still around the edges of the snow patch
And stare at it
While complaining to each other
About how much of it there is

'That patch must be three feet wide!'
'Yes, it is.'
'I'm sick of it.'
'Me too.'
'Sick of looking at it.'
'Me too.'
'Just sick.'
'Me too.'

I haven't been around the entire world yet
Because I keep stopping
To look around

I suppose it's not so bad
An explorer should explore
Although my distinction is supposed to be
The quantity of what I see
The length of the journey

Because, in theory, so much else has been explored

At least, that's what I heard
Before I started out

I was only six days gone
When a whale stopped
To ask me directions

'Excuse me, do you know the way to The No Neck Republic?'
'I'm sorry, but I don't.'
'What a pity.  I was hoping to go there since I don't have a neck.'
'Could you live somewhere else?'
'I suppose I could I just keep living in the ocean, but I can't take all the stares I get from the octopi.  Oh well.'

With that, he swam away
And I knew
I would not be coming home

When you realize how much there is to see of the world
It's hard not to want to see it all

I don't particularly care if I discover anything

Most explorers just want to plant a flag
And name a piece of land after themselves
But I don't feel that way

I've never found a place
That looked like my name

Maybe the idea is that you name the place
And then it starts to look like you

I guess I'll never know

I've sent word back that I've been killed by savages
And that is how history will remember me

That I failed to complete my journey
And that I died in a violent
And unfortunate way

The truth is I just didn't feel like coming back

And I didn't want to be the man who conquered the whole wide world

After all I've seen
It would seem an insult

An insult to a dear friend

It would seem as if I were saying
That I had conquered a lion
Or an elephant
And turned it into a house cat

And people would think that there was nothing left to see

They would stop exploring

'No point,' they'd say, 'Magellan already did it'

And that would be a terrible loss

Because even if I lived forever
I'd only ever see a tiny parcel of this world
And I'd experience even less of it

For each day a new person is brought into being
And a new day brings new circumstances
A lake dries up to reveal what was hiding underneath it
While a wave courses over a beach that no one will remember

A mountain will sink an inch or two
As a baby begins to grow

A man will sail his ship once, twice, three times around the world
And all he'll ever see is water
Because he's only concerned
About having his name in a history book

People will arrive and depart
Places will be given new names
Flag after flag will be planted
And somewhere on a shore
I'll be sitting
Quietly

Watching a star
Come down to earth
To see what all the fuss is about