Me and Charlene, The Graphene Queen

Text:

© WanHu
I bought a water filter at the hardware store one day
Charlene, behind the counter said, “There's easy ways to pay”
“This”, said the girl, “will change the world in every single way”
I said “I hear, sales talk like yours a thousand times a day”
She leaned a little closer and looked me in the eye
She said, to me, “you seem to be an ordinary guy
But you're living in a world of hatred, pain and misery
We’ve got one in your colour, a cold, metallic grey”

I took the water filter back to my desert home
I read through the instructions and turned the engine on
I ran a pipe to the ocean, 300 miles away
Put the graphene oxide membrane on my hose and pulled the spray
At first, i just grew cacti, and flowers tall and wild
But then there came, lush, verdant plains
And I, just like a child
Danced naked in the mornings, uninhibited and gay
My hairy Scottish arse would glint, a cold, metallic grey

One morning, I was dancing, all alone as was my want
There, to the green, came sweet Charlene, she brought some fresh croissants.
I brewed a pot of coffee and told her my regrets
And she looked deep into my eyes and smoked a cigarette
I said “There are some places in this world, I have seen,
They need your cold, grey filters to turn their deserts green
And feed their populations, bringing happiness and health
Reduce infant mortality and accentuate their wealth”.

She said “I’m only making an after sales visit to your home.
I'd have brought the bloody register and ledgers if I'd known.
When I get back to the office, then I'll see what I can do
If it entails success or fails, this venture’s down to you.




This song comes from the future where tomorrow it is today
There is no war and no one's poor and hunger's gone away
There are some lingering problems, such as falling CO2
There's far too many orang-utans in the hills of Borneo
And the emigration crisis; all my friends have moved from
From the drizzle ridden Northern Shores to Somalia's sunshine coast.
From the forests of Sahara to the Mongolian canals
Amongst the swathes of green, unseen, forgotten and banal
The nanotechnic beauty, pumping water every day
The little box of wonder in a cold, metallic grey.

I didn't ask for plaudits, fortune, wealth or fame
But they made Charlene the Graphene Queen and then she took my name
They made me King of Scotland, I really like the job
It’s largely ceremonial, but but they let me rob
The coffers of the populace
In perpetuity, for my personal enrichment
And friends and family.
I have to wear a crown and sceptre every single day
But they’re my favourite colour: a cold, metallic grey.

Copyright W Ian Young (Wanhu) May 2017