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About the earth rich trade awaits

The passage there seals fates

Papal bulls state in this world

Whose sails, whose flags unfurl

Portugal and Spain, the brave

– Iberia rules the waves

To east and west these ravens fly

As Huginn and Muninn split the sky

Half of the earth becomes our berth

In Tordesillas, Alexander

raised his voice and quill like thunder

As a powerful commander

like Moses once, cleft waves asunder

Cut Castile from eastern vendors

loosened Lusitania’s rein

Halved the world and halved its splendour –

divide and conquer in God’s name

Divide and conquer in God’s name

A furrow, no more, this meridian line

No more does it define?

Hemispheres? – No pope had said it:

Circulum non dedit

In Tordesillas, Alexander

raised his voice and quill like thunder

As a powerful commander

like Moses once, cleft waves asunder

Cut Castile from eastern vendors

loosened Lusitania’s rein

Halved the world and halved its splendour –

divide and conquer in God’s name

The Papal Line of Demarcation

floats unsteadily in the ocean

Challenged by the neighbouring nation

it oscillates in a fluttering motion

Claim, reclaim and then surrender

islands, coastlines, heathen thrones

Bloodlines and claims of contenders

are hewn in water, not in stone

Hewn in water, not in stone