Tales from the Trees Read online

  'Cause I truly feel it's quite the thing.

  Springs are bouncy, springs are round,

  Springs cause you to go up and down

  And if you're careless on the bed,

  They'll connect the ceiling with your head.

  I've often thought it would be neat

  To attach two big springs to my feet.

  I'd bounce and bounce 'til I got quite high,

  Perhaps I'd bounce up to the sky.

  But I'd dare not bounce in the afternoon

  For I might end up upon the moon.

  I really think it might be fun,

  Yet there's a chance they'd come undone,

  Then 'twouldn't be no fun at all,

  I'd have to write an ode to fall.

  **********

  O'er The Green Grass

  Oh Jamie, my lover,

  Marching off to the drum,

  From across the green valleys

  The uprising's come.

  The soldiers, with weapons,

  Are just over the hill,

  The flames of your passion

  For freedom have spilled.

  So, there you stand grandly,

  With your face all afire,

  Your noble intentions

  And good-hearted desire,

  To bid me a goodbye,

  And to worry, I'm not,

  You're fighting for homelands,

  For justice and for God.

  I look o'er the green grass,

  Damp and sparkling with dew,

  Knowing my tomorrows

  Will all be without you.

  I know death is waiting,

  But I know you'll not stay;

  With your friends and kinsmen

  You'll march proudly away.

  You'll fight like a hero

  For the things you believe,

  But you're destined to fail,

  I'm destined to grieve.

  As are all these women

  Who are standing this day

  To kiss husband and son,

  To smile and to pray.

  They'll show you no mercy,

  With your back to the wall.

  The fates are against you,

  You know you must fall.

  Though your cause, it be true

  And fair men be you all,

  The fates are against you,

  You know you must fall.

  **********

  On A Cold Nebraska Night

  Out across the lonely plains they drove,

  Back seat jumbled with wrappers, beer and guns.

  Just kids who lived next door to someone once,

  Just kids out looking for a little fun.

  They said no one could understand them,

  None understood their love or how it led

  To bodies wrapped and hidden in a shed.

  No one could stop them now, they all were dead.

  With death they consummated their dark love;

  The odyssey and ecstasy of blood,

  Of life that spilled so easily in their hands

  And mingled with the thick Nebraska mud.

  Eleven lives they took without regret,

  And bragged at how each danger they had met

  As though they could not fathom what they'd done.

  "We had a little fun, was all," they said.

  **********

  On the Cold Wood Floor

  (The Deserter)

  "Oh, Wooflie, come down to the tavern tonight,

  And bring your guitar," She said.

  Been better off bringing his old six gun

  And bullets of brass and lead,

  For the Captain was there with forty odd men,

  Hid behind table and door.

  He stood not a chance when he walked in the place

  And he died on the cold wood floor.

  **********

  Requiem

  Touch my face, my heart is dying.

  On your altar, cold, I'm lying

  As your sacrifice, too willing,

  All my senses wild and reeling,

  Crying out for one more moment

  Of sweet love before the torment

  Overtakes me and I falter,

  Stumbling like a broken vaulter

  Into the depths of dark despair,

  Plunging headlong, and no one cares.

  Knowing this brief moment only

  As a comfort, lost and lonely

  Shall I live from this time onward,

  While my shattered heart your lips gird

  With cruel laughter, coarse and vile.

  But for now give me your smile,

  Your lips, your loins to be my own,

  As you would throw a dog a bone.

  Vent your passion, 'ere you leave me

  With my soul all torn and bleeding,

  Bare and empty, void of feeling,

  Staring blankly at the ceiling.

  **********

  Sacrifice

  There was fire and smoke;

  It made him choke.

  His lungs burned like a flame.

  With a single stroke

  The knife blade broke;

  He screamed that hateful name.

  'Round scarlet walls

  And shadowed halls,

  Through corridors of steel,

  Came frenzied calls,

  But the echoes fall,

  Swirling in a drunken reel.

  He staggered blind,

  Without a mind,

  In a blood-red mist of doubt.

  All he'd left behind

  Had intertwined

  'Til it turned him inside out.

  He was ripped apart,

  His tattered heart

  Hung as heavy as a shroud.

  Still, he'd played it smart

  And made the start

  With his bloody head unbowed.

  All the halls of hell

  Rang like a bell,

  He reached beyond the dark.

  The acid smell

  Oozed like a spell

  From the wizard's dusty ark.

  Through the hollow pass

  As smooth as glass,

  Through eternal shades of gloom.

  Through a steam as crass

  As poison gas,

  Ran that horrid hall of doom.

  Through that deadly grey

  Of rank decay,

  Stagg'ring, flushed with death and fear,

  He felt his way

  As he tried to pray,

  His blood flowing dark and clear.

  In his right hand, staid,

  The shattered blade,

  In his crusted blackened fist,

  Dimly lit the way;

  The hellhound bayed,

  The hall took another twist.

  The Grieman's call

  Rolled down the hall

  'Til it shook the beams above.

  He wondered well

  If they'd ever tell

  What he sacrificed for love.

  She begged him go,

  Her eyes aglow,

  For a hero she did crave.

  He willing died

  For her selfish pride,

  Now his gnawed bones know no grave.

  **********

  Shiver In the Night Winds

  Shiver in the night winds,

  The sentry stands beside the well,

  For dominion has continued

  But the eager cannot fail;

  The starlight is descending.

  Lightning flashing on the coast

  So all the rocks and borders

  Stand like visionary ghosts.

  Flickering in the distance

  A thousand fires mark tents

  Of the enemy that's marching

  Ever closer, ever bent

  On destruction's pleasure,

  Like storms raging 'ginst the wall

  That never leave a shelter

  For the wand
'ring or the small.

  Shiver in the night winds,

  For the dawn is coming soon.

  The pipes and drums will call out

  In their melancholy tune,

  The fields will come alive then,

  Insects crawling 'cross the stone

  Coming up from the beaches,

  Turning into flesh and bone.

  The beggars on the hills

  Are the damned who wait before,

  For the piercing of the arrow

  And the slashing of the sword.

  For freedom or conquest?

  Time will leave it all unasked,

  Only hollow bones and ashes

  Buried underneath the grass.

  **********

  Siren's Call

  Far from familiar shores you have sailed,

  Into the great unknown.

  Stronger than passion, the call of the world

  That pulls you away from home.

  Stronger than love and stronger than dreams,

  Stronger than promise or vow,

  You glide the dark seas to answer the voice

  Of the siren that lures you now.

  For her song is like wine, heady and bold,

  It burns your soul like a flame,

  She'll take you away from the ones you love,

  The ones who bear your name.

  She'll beguile and tempt with sight and sound,

  She'll answer your every need,

  So, off you have gone to do what you want

  And be the man you will be.

  **********

  Tales From The Trees

  The night bird calls from the Hyop tree

  And shadows dance among the leaves

  As they tell their tales of ancient days

  When lusty heroes held the sway;

  When pretty maids were in distress,

  With blushing cheeks and heaving breasts.

  'Twas then that honor was the fashion;

  'Twas then that real men had passion,

  To live or die, to fight to win,

  Save truth and justice, slaughter sin.

  As they battled beasts and evil foes

  The young trees watched each scenario.

  Though many centuries have passed

  And these warriors long since breathed their last,

  Still, the romance cannot be denied

  As long as the trees keep the tales alive.

  **********

  The Crown Of Darren

  The stars swirled around her head.

  "O' Keeper of The Flame," they said,

  "Where is the crown of Darren kept,

  Whose jewels outshine the tears saints wept?"

  "I know not," spoke her tender lips.

  She brushed them with her fingertips

  And darkness fell upon them there,

  A veil of peace, a mercy fair.

  Then in he roared, with heart of fire,

  His soul a dirge, an empty pyre;

  His tongue a double bladed sword

  That rent the walls and slashed the floor.

  The stars, alarmed, flew from his wrath,

  The moonbeams trembled in his path.

  The heavens boiled in unchained terror,

  He cast his eyes upon her there

  And lust ate at his sinful soul.

  At first he gently did cajole

  And made sweet vows with loving words

  That e'er fair maid had ever heard.

  She listened to his lying breath,

  His pledge of passion unto death,

  And did despise his foul deceit,

  His coarse desires, his raw conceit.

  She turned her back upon him then;

  He flung his dagger in the wind.

  She whirled and reaching out her hand,

  There suddenly appeared a band

  Of gold, the like had ne'er been seen

  Atop the head of king or queen,

  And on the band were dazzling gems,

  That burned his eyes and blinded him.

  He cursed and stumbled in the dark;

  A shaft of silver rent his heart

  And sent him reeling off through space,

  Through times contingent upon place,

  Through death, to hell, and beyond,

  Where nothing else had ever gone.

  The heavens cheered, the stars returned

  And peace descended, planets turned.

  She held the crown above her head

  "Go back from whence you came," she said.

  She lightly blew across the band,

  It faded slowly from her hands.

  **********

  The Elopement

  Take me home, young warrior,

  To the land of your fathers,

  Where the green hills of Airn

  Meet the blue skies of day,

  'Cross majestic mountains

  And over the wild water,

  Through the forests and moorlands

  Where savage gods wander.

  Carry me away, then,

  'Neath the pale moon's slow rising,

  Bold and wild as your stallion,

  Running free and untamed.

  More fierce than the falcon,

  With your eyes to the heavens,

  While the bright winds of autumn

  Stir your brave, noble heart.

  So carry me with you

  To the towers of Tollman,

  Where the night winds rise softly,

  Tithe light frosted stars,

  And lay me down gently

  With the dreams of your mothers

  Passing always within me,

  My handsome young warrior.

  **********

  The Empty Conquest

  Free and wild he stood all alone in the dark;

  His lips were as sweet as the song of a lark.

  His raven hair tumbled across his broad breast

  And his eyes were as bright as the sky in the west.

  As a hero he came to conquer the world,

  His sword all a-blaze and his banner unfurled.

  With trumpets a-blarin', he roared into sight,

  He fought to the left and he fought to the right.

  He battled each army and crushed every foe,

  From every encounter, triumphant he rose.

  And nothing eclipsed him, his power supreme

  Continued to grow 'til he ruled everything.

  Still his life knew no pleasure, his heart was sad,

  As he longed for the love he had never had.

  How hollow his vict'ries, how empty the throne

  As he sits with his glory, in the dark all alone.

  **********

  The Fairy's Love

  "Believe in me," the fairy said.

  "All other loves are vain!"

  Alas, the ears are often deaf,

  And in despair and pain,

  Heed not the truth but look away

  To hide amidst the rain.

  From some deep, hidden depths are cried

  Frail tears, a lover's bane

  That turn hearts on a rusty nail

  And enters every vein.

  To bleed for love, to die for love,

  Yet never to attain.

  **********

  The Hostage

  The steel bands bit into his flesh;

  His body's stench rose to his face.

  The steaming hole beneath the street

  Rough hewn but worn by countless feet,

  Was now his silent, dusty tomb,

  And fear sat with him in the room.

  His lips beneath the gag were dry;

  His nostril burned, tears filled his eyes.

  The prayer he mumbled 'ginst the rag

  Droned on and on throughout the day,

  While muscles, cramped, shot stabbing pains

  Like needles to his weary brain.

  There seemed no point to all of this,


  Delay and terror, threats of death.

  No government would make a trade

  Or buy his freedom, anyway.

  But life went on for those out there,

  While no one cared that he was here.

  **********

  The Ice Queen

  She rose in pale glory,

  Lips faint against the pallor of her cheeks.

  Enrobed in gossamer,

  Her hair hung 'round her shoulders in light streaks.

  Her small hands, like satin,

  So soft, so smooth, so cold, so deathly white,

  Were opened, and the room

  Was bursting with the glow of fiery light.

  It burned bright with passion,

  Bold as a brand new day, fierce as a dart,

  But nothing penetrated

  The ice that hung in splinters 'round her heart.

  **********

  The Seeker

  I am a worn and weary waif

  Lost upon this desert plain,

  The sky is black and cold as ice,

  It stares at me with frozen eyes.

  Stark is the night and rough the stone,

  Chill creeps through flesh and into bone.

  The wind whisps by like wizard's spell

  And hints at secrets it can't tell.

  I am a worn and weary waif,

  Unknown, unloved and oft' forsaken,

  I wander lone from place to place,

  No comfort, not a stranger's face

  To fill the void; how empty now

  The lies I told, the broken vow.

  How far away is all I know,

  How far I've come, how far I go.

  I am a worn and weary waif,

  Lost upon this desert plain

  That rolls like sea, forever on

  From dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn.

  No end in sight, no boundary marked,

  A place where none may change their heart,

  Where all I see is earth and sky,

  And all I live for is to die.

  **********

  The Treasure Seekers

  Why is there no wind tonight?

  Here in the darkness without a light,

  Travel in fear to the devil's delight,

  Through air so dense and breath so tight.

  Here in scarlet mist we roam,

  Far from our land and far from our home,

  Following maps from ancient tome,

  Treading on strange, unfertile loam.

  What is it for which we toil?

  Dreams of wealth that will make us royal,

  Dreams of great riches, while we bake and boil,

  Wading the stench of rotting soil.

  Why not go home with all speed,

  Back where we had all that man could need?

  Satan controls us by feeding our greed,

  So, struggle onward without heed.

  Giving up hope without care,