the third and final time i saw you
under beech trees and clotted clouds
you defied gravity just by standing there
with nature as your green mirror
with living stone you walk and talk
touching the naked hills with your loving tongue
seducing the very valleys as they rolled away
supplicating to be made whole again
i ran towards you faster and faster but getting nowhere
i can see you becoming farther and further away
i can see how the land is joined to the sky now
i can see the invisible mending that will sew what?
stitch stitch stitch
the moss goes on the boughs
the stones go on the ground
the birds go on the sky
the sky should be blue
the blue should be bright
the bright should be….oh i dont know baby
the rabbits should chase the fox
the lambs and the lions….i’m all mixed up
the meadow is speaking in flowersong
the path that i followed which ended at your door
now i’m not so sure
the bats which sleep in the woods
the witch in her cottage preparing a brew
the children are frightened out here on there own
no father dont send us out into the great forest alone
no father dont you see
that woman wants us gone…..
i follow my path over dingly dell
through rooted knotted places like elfish bowers
and i cut my little name on all the great trees
rumpelstiltskin
sometimes i carve puck
sometimes i burn the word ariel into the bark
sometimes i flash through the brook like a lure
and i hook eels and minnows for my supper
sometimes i hide in your ear whispering
sometimes i appear as fireflies leading you astray
sometimes i am seen as a great grey wolf
on the feast of stephen i am a dark shape in the snow
i stand outside candlelit windows
whimpering below the winds own voice
god rest ye merry gentlemen let nothing you dismay
then i carry off the lovely ladies to my lonely den
where they discover i am a reasonable beast after all
yet i am myself devoured by the darkness of their piety…
when spring returns to bohemian lands i am a lark
in summer i am seen as adam naked and unadorned
and i wander this garden alone
then as the autumn fills mens hearts with gloom
i open a door in a hollow tree and i escape to lyonesse
or italy
or i stay and lie low until next may
under the fixed green star of venus
under the wandering leaves
until the green shoots burst gently from their beds
until my love awakes in the soft light of love
until a new day dawns with an avian fanfare
where we tumble alive from darkest dreams
and some brave knight arrives with joyous christian tidings
and the monsters are hounded out of our lands
the dragon defeated and his lair destroyed
oh my lovely love dressed all in cambric
oh my lady love a’walking through a new morning
blue birds singing and daffodils shyly peeping
let the colours be unfurled
let yellow equal gold
let white equal deepest silver
let her eyes burn like a blue sun
let all creatures be in praise of god
let his joyful creation be unveiled in all its splendour
let eden be reopened at last
we will sing a glad song again
io io ao io
pan will appear
grapes and wine
ah! merriment and laughter
goodbye sadness
loss grief pain
now all banished
now all vanished
forever and ever
amen