GALLAMAZZAAR
In the far off land of Gallamazzaar
Little green men
Drove little green cars,
With little green wives
And little green lives,
In the far off land of Gallamazzaar.
In the far off land of Pallamazzaar
Little pink men
Drove little pink cars,
With little pink wives
And little pink lives,
In the far off land of Pallamazzaar
In the far off land of Gallamazzaar
The king cast his eye overseas.
He saw mountains topped in candy pink
Lined by magenta trees.
The magenta trees had tea-rose leaves
That glinted in a cherry sun,
While in between those pink-leaved trees
Fuchsia streams did run.
The fuchsia streams led through the dales
Of salmon pink and peach,
And the dales themselves swept pinkly down
Onto a taffy beach.
And at the taffy beach
Lay a village in the sun
With rosewood floors and rosewood walls
And roofs of bubblegum.
The king in greenest envy
Swept his eye across this land
And thought how lovely it would be
To dance on taffy sand.
In the far off land of Pallamazzaar
The king cast his eye overseas.
He saw mountains topped in apple green
Lined by chartreuse trees.
The chartreuse trees had lime green leaves
That glinted in an emerald sun,
While in between those green-leaved trees
Mantis streams did run.
The mantis streams led through the dales
Of mint and phthalo green,
And the dales themselves swept greenly down
Onto a moss green beach.
And at the moss green beach
Lay a village in the sun
With malachite floors and malachite walls
And roofs of greengage plum.
The king in pinkest envy
Swept his eye across this land
And thought how lovely it would be
To dance on moss green sand.
In the far off land of Gallamazzaar
The king prepared his fleet,
Resplendent all in sea foam green,
With sails of freekeh wheat.
They set out on the mantis sea,
The emerald sun on high,
And strove towards the small pink cove
That caught the kingly eye.
In the far off land of Pallamazzaar
The king prepared his fleet,
Resplendent all in Spanish pink
With sails of celosia wheat.
They set out on the fuchsia sea,
The cherry sun on high,
And strove towards the small green cove
That caught the kingly eye.
So on they sailed through pink and green,
Towards horizons never seen,
With hope in heart
Of change to be,
Of better pinks and better greens.
Day in, day out,
Through dusk and dawn,
Each windblown ship
Sailed slowly on,
Until one day,
At breaking light,
They saw confusion in the skies
As pink and green combined their hues
And turned into a navy blue.
The sea below them curled and swirled
As pink and green began to merge,
Until all members of the crews
Saw the sea was turquoise blue.
This was the equator,
The middle of the world,
Where all those separate colours
Came together in a whirl.
Cautiously approaching,
The two kings saw each other,
Then each king shouted loudly,
‘Good God! That’s my brother!’
‘He may be pink,’
‘He may be green,’
‘He may be any colour,
But I can tell you
Here and now,
That that’s my long-lost brother!’
It seems that many years ago,
When they were babes new born,
The ship in which they travelled
Sailed into a storm.
The last act of their parents
Was to give each child away
To a member of the crew
In the hope that they'd escape.
The crewmen fought to save the lives
Of the babes held in their arms,
But in the fury of the storm
The men were torn apart.
Each man, each babe, floated for days
Alone on the unkind sea,
Until at last, worlds apart,
They landed on
A beach.
The sailors built a makeshift house
Of wood from beachside trees,
Until they had at last a home,
One pink, the other green.
And as the lads ate different foods,
Spent time in different suns,
Those things that made them brothers,
Set them both apart.
Each became a king
Of the land in which they grew,
And they lost every memory
Of the family they once knew.
They scanned the bland horizon
Each and every day,
Looking for what, they knew not,
But hoping anyway.
And as they gazed
Across the waves
They knew what they had sought;
It wasn’t land or coloured sands,
But the family they had lost.
So now pink is pink and green is green
And they’re happy to be whatever they be.
No longer do kings gaze at the sea
Looking for something that cannot be seen.