presently our company rounded the great green hills
that divided ante-lebanon from olde saxony
david and bathsheba dismounted immediately
their dwarf running hither and, yes, thither
all dressed in his yellow livery
and pouring red wine from a big green bottle
marked danger
the clearing had been decked out in gay abandon
standards and flags fluttered in the sweetest breezes
tony and cleo showed up bearing gifts and raving
about a new theatre in alexandria
my young ocelot delighted to be let free and
it greeted each guest with a painful nip if they bore no gifts
my twin sister kathy was there looking radiant
at a distance
she twirled away through the trees
dancing with the handsomest brutes one can well imagine
the band played on
their violins woke the crooning nightingales who sang backups
david neil, yes, david neil stepped out of the lengthening shadows
he smiled to see me standing there
striding through the glade in his thunderbolt suit
white lightning? he spoke like a ghost
welcome david you are welcome here…i said shaking his hand
davids already drunk on the night
he plucks another drink off a waiter dressed as some dopey eros
whats this ?he demands of the waiter
dopey eros says
why sir
that drink is called drink
and it contains
one shot of writhing n blues
one shot of triple sec
one shot to the head
one ounce of raspberry pulp
one shot of belladonna
one shot of deadmans tears
one shot of nepenthe……
oh! said david neil interrupting him…nepenthe….
go on david
sing nepenthe i said
go on! yelled out somebody else
yes david sing us nepenthe they all shouted out
david took up his 12 string guitar
and he pulled that david neil face
that one where he stares off into the future
and he sings to you of wreck n ruin
and his early demise and his late appointments
and with indecision within decision
you wanna hear nepenthe? he whispers to us
yeah! we all answer back a unified beast
ok ….he grins
and re tunes his guitar for a while
i’m sure youve all heard nepenthe by now
davids last big hit
before he….
but that still perhaps remains in the future
where it belongs with all other trouble
tonight we are at this pastoral romp
and lo and behold
david neil himself will sing his most achingly beautiful song
the one where the music sounds all babylonian
like it had skimmed in ninevehs hit parade
david fucking neil, man
will you look at that cat go
he plays that sad long weird phrase on his guitar
all chordal flourishes with slight dissonant implication
he begins to sing:
down by the ocean
down by the shores
shifting sands
octopus woman
holds 8 drinks
in her 8 hands
in one hand i hold water
in one hand hand i hold wine
in one hand i hold yours my love
and another i hold thine
and in the fifth is honeyed ale
and in the sixth is coke
the seventh is a mystery
but the eighth
ah the eighth
it s my own little joke
nepenthe
oh welcome forgetfulness
forget forget forget….yourself…
the mob howled their applause
flowers fell from some lovely scented place
the peoples spirits bucked up and happiness was truly abroad
well done, david neil!
david shrugs: aw its just a songy song …its nothing really..
a kind of mist comes down
everything travels within its aureole
mescalito pops in and remembers us to a friend
david n i step outside the forest for a moment
i take the melting mirror
he takes the door in the tree
we meet up outside the exit sign
which flashes dimly within the clinging mist
david pulls out a joint
he lights it up
so how you really doing, man ? he asks
yeah fine jus’ fine …i say
are you sure? he says offering me a smoke
nah …i say ambiguously
david shrugs
yeah he says eventually
it really is time you went straight