The Pedlar of Hills

“I’m selling hills, name your price!

My hills are whole, fertile,

Full of the fat of dreams,

Brimming with falling stars

And animals dancing

Around flowered tombstones.”

“I have hills for everyone,

Just name your price!

Is it marvels you seek?

Legends are wrought in these hills;

Prodigious beasts are tamed,

Hunted, killed, befriended;

Unbelievable beauty abounds,

Summoned by your flights of fancy!”

“Name your price and take everything!

I have sold hills for generations,

And my father before me,

And his father before him.

Hills have always come to us,

For we have sold hills for aeons.”

“See the comely hill yonder?

Name your price, and it’s yours.

I’ve seen miracles happen there:

People rise up from their tomb

Galaxies collide and explode

Flying whales and singing baboons!

This wondrous hill has it all.”

“Name your price, friend,

And be merry on this hill.

If you can call something yours

In this godforsaken world

It will be this hill where everything

You can dream of happens.

It’s a hill like no other.”

I realised too late the hill was cursed

for as soon as I took possession

of the hill, it took possession of me.

I became the hill.

The pedlar grinned.