The Greek for the Statue (Phallus)

Lyrics

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
The Reverend showed us a drawing from his archaeology lecture.
A page from Pausanias, dated around 150 CE.
He described the statues in the open parts of the city.
He called them Hermae.
Not a full man, just a head on a squared block of limestone.
No hands, no feet.
Just the face of Hermes, the traveler's god.
And on the front, carved in relief, the sign of life.
The sign of luck.

[Verse 2]
They stood at the crossroads in Attica.
Marking the edge of a field, the start of a journey.
A traveler would leave a small pile of stones.
Or a dried fig, sticky and sweet.
A drop of wine poured on the dusty earth.
A prayer for protection against whatever waits on the road.
A guardian made of rock, warmed by the midday sun.

[Chorus]
And the Greek for the statue, the part that gives the blessing...
Is Phallus.
A word for the warding off of evil.
A word for the promise of a good harvest.
Just a piece of a god, carved on a pillar.
Phallus.

[Verse 3]
Kiki leaned over and whispered the Latin cognate she'd found.
Pālus. A stake.
The Reverend cleared his throat and said it was 'apotropaic.'
'A symbol intended to turn away harm.'
He said the Romans had them too, at the doors of their houses.
To make the home fertile, to keep the ghosts out.

[Chorus]
And the Greek for the statue, the part that gives the blessing...
Is Phallus.
A word for the warding off of evil.
A word for the promise of a good harvest.
Just a piece of a god, carved on a pillar.
Phallus.

[Bridge]
But one night in Athens, 415 BCE.
Before the ships sailed for the Sicilian Expedition.
A conspiracy of hammers in the dark.
The sound of sacrilege.
By morning, the city woke in terror.
The Hermae were mutilated.
Their power broken off, lying in the dust of the Agora.
The Hermokopidai, they called it.
A city afraid its luck had run out.

[Outro]
The dust settles.
The broken stones were repaired, or replaced.
The word remains.
In the Reverend's book.
In the shape of the stone.
In the quiet of the workshop.