The Village in the Tree #4 - Heterodoxy

Earlier in our narrative

I took care to explain

That the origin of all

Is something quite arcane

Please do not presume to think

Such ignorance is mine alone

For the dwellers in the tree

All were equally at sea

That is, they had as little grasp

Of their own antiquity

As that afforded you or me

Ignorance begets a world

Of bright imagination

Untrammeled by the tiresome bounds

Of factual limitation

Where even grubby tramps may dare

To believe themselves to be

Unjustly disinherited

Royal progeny

Subjected to the will

Of long-term infatuation

It is possible

That a population

May believe themselves to be

That which they are clearly not

On outside investigation

The entire habitation

Of the Village in the Tree

Proved to be

In such a shameful spot

Not to put too finer point

On our prognostication

The villagers upon the tree

Shared the same hallucination

In their naive estimation

The tree from clouds was suspended

Roots to the base were appended
Merely for decoration 

Thus "Village in the Sky are we"

Proudly declaimed the majority

And violent the strife

Bitter the animosity

T'ward any with the temerity

To wish to be

The Village in the Tree

Complex inferiority

Incrementally

Abandoning its principles

Deserting historicity

Descending imperceptibly

To general mediocrity

Grants assent

Once will is bent

To the general will

And even Sayers of the nay

Cast up their hands

Say "What the hey -

Village in the Sky are we”

Despite abandoned certainty

Of the nature of reality

The Slow Bereavement of Edward Hughes

Edward Hughes had an addition
Rather he was added to
Grace Elizabeth Sarah Fields
At the age of 22

They saw the world then came to rest
In a garden with bright views
In a gentle twilight
Edward and Grace Hughes

Today he sat alone at table
Grace was absent from his side
He searched for words but was not able
To talk of Grace, swept by the tide

Swept by the tide of time and pain
Cut adrift from peace and love
Drifting near then far again
Until the time he's fearful of

The time when Edward Hughes will be
Alone as once before
When Grace Elizabeth Sarah Fields
Will be there no more

He knows this time must come at last
We all know it too
Yet none of us can bear the thought
The parting of these two

Down the Pub

Don't belch on your beloved
Don't over-fill your paunch
With nuts and crisps and lager
Work very hard to staunch
Inebriated promises
Of everlasting love
She's heard it all before my friend
So let me tell you bruv
She had your number hours ago
Knew what you was about
You had your third pint on the go
When she knew you was a lout

The Village in the Tree #3 - The Village in the Sky

The Village in the Sky?

Well might the gentle reader cry

Protesting - yet we don't forsake

More correctly, we have not forsook

The title writ upon the spine

And the cover of the book

Our tale is still arboreal

Confusion is ephemeral

Our persistent theme will be

The Village in the Tree

The perspective of observers

Is differentiated

Compared to that of those within

The realm investigated

Then we are not surprised

That the Village in the Tree

Is known by those that live therein

Quite contrarily

As the Village in the Sky

"Point made and noted

Please pass on

To a point of relevancy"

Yet gentle reader we must dwell

Awhile upon this piquancy

For in this matter by and by

The fate of the Village in the Sky

Shall be seen to have been chosen

Inadvertently

By the naive determination

Of the villagers not to be

The Village in the Tree

Let me explain …

Cuckoo Lament

The cuckoo was a simple bird
Putting faith in every word
Accepting the veracity
Of cuckoo-held philosophy

To raise a future generation
Requires no thought or contemplation
After the delight of mating
Follows a week or two of waiting
Then at last the egg is laid
In a nest found ready-made
The fuss of procreation done
Fly away and sing in the sun

No cuckoo since the world began
Can explain or understand
The frantic life of others
The fluttering of feathers
The lyric of the sparrow song
That mothers' work is never done

So at length there came a day
When the search for a place to lay
The precious egg was all in vain
For naught but cuckoos now remained
The hen sought place of incubation
Then to the cock came inspiration
There, a fluffy little cloud
Floated high and floated proud
Resembling a downy nest
The reader may surmise the rest
How the egg, laid while in flight
Fell within the downy fluff
And how once fallen out of sight
It smashed upon the rocky bluff

Thus the cuckoos passed away
Beware for so may you one day
For living on the toil of others
Is not confined to the realm of feathers
You think that plenty will never end
But have a care my foolish friend
Lest it be said that you, yes you
Have become 'cloud-cuckoo' too

In Mists Unseen

Out there beyond the leaves, the trees and the green
Is the blue and the true of the sea
The level, the line between fields and trees
The start of the sky - I know where it lies
Out there beyond the leaves, the trees and the green
In the mists of the morning unseen

The Village in the Tree #2 - Upon the Origin

Among the tales of antiquity

None rarer may be found

Than the fable (none are able

to dispute its authenticity)

Of the Village in the Tree

The tree from fabled seed had grown

Hybridized, of unique genome

Baobab and Sycamore

Joshua and Bristlecone

Oaken-hearted

Poplar-ised

Mystic and eternal

Yggdrasil itself

Could not be the equal

Of the tree that we envision

At the center of our fable

Whence came people to the tree?

How were they able

To construct a village

Nestle it in verdant green

Hang it in the place between

The rootstock far below

And the clouds that with the sun do glow

And hide the crown in misty glory

This falls not in the scope

Of my story

Nor can I explain

The reservoirs that catch the rain

The cunning plans that irrigate

Exotic crops - the tools of yore

Forged without an earthy ore

Yet able to facilitate

Works of carpenter and more

Those of civil engineer

Performed with muscle sweat and little more

Than that which happened to be near

Though hidden by the mists of time

These practicalities

Arranged in perfect order

(Like sixteen types of quark

And spools of super-string

Mystically supporting

The shape of everything)

Needs-must be as real

As the vision in our eye

The crystal-clear impression

Of the Village in the Sky

Surgical Ward

When you awake to a world of pain
Please do not fret and don't complain
Muster your gumption
Gather your will
Repeat without ceasing "I am not ill"

You signed a form and we did this to you
You asked us to do it so do not feel blue
Yet thanks to your surgeon and medical team
You may feel an occasional impulse to scream
But thanks to powerful killers of pain
Soon you will find yourself - 'right as rain'
So for the meantime just take a pill
And repeat after me "I am not ill"

The Ballad of Osbourne Hamley

A beetle ran across his brow
Black as ink on paper - note how
It signifies an end of thought
A pause - a closing of the book
As Osbourne with a frozen look
Lies down

He loved his mother - 'God knows how'
His wife will meet his father now
Time is slow
The hazy glow - of light
Interrupted - dim then bright
Through the branches faintly glow
Ending now
The beetle running from the brow
Leaving now

Child returned to nursery
Gathered into father's heart
Young Master's Ale a memory
'Do you know I loved you now?'
The beetle fallen from the brow
Making haste to quit the page
Of Osbourne Hamley's face

The Village in the Tree #1 - Author's Note

I told the story widely

Of the Village in the Tree

So widely that it seemed to some

To have veracity

Debates arose and there were those

Who said "No!", and yet

Some said "Well ...

Arboreal

Settlement

In pursuit of human betterment

May be true -

This lowly fool may be a savant yet!"

They took me off to see

A Doctor of Philosophy

Who sat down

And with a frown

Sought to know,

With eyes aglow

The story of the Village in the Tree

I told him that it was not true

Into an instant rage he flew

“How dare you venture an opinion

When one in all the land and kingdom

Arbiter of light and truth

Recipient of approbation

Bestowed by Royal Proclamation

Shall weigh the matter and expound

Where the font of truth be found”

He sucked his teeth and paced the room

From morning light 'till evening gloom

Finally he turned to me ...

"'Tis known by all for a certainty

That in a Universe so wide

As to conceal its farthest side

All that excites the mind of Man

Is somewhere to be found - I can

Enumerate the panoply

Of bounteous serendipity

Of miraculous discovery

So by the power granted me

I declare the Village in the Tree

The essence

The epitome

Of guaranteed veracity!”

Woe is me

My simple fable simply told

Inexplicably enrolled

In the illustrious company

of Pythagoras and Archimedes

Poet's Block

I have the curse of verse
And art in every vein
And no sweet song
To spend it on
Life is so very plain

Where an ancient mariner
When you have need of him?
Where a host of daffodils
That nod their heads in spring?
Where the stately raven
Of saintly days of yore?
Where a country churchyard?
Nevermore, nevermore

I have a camera
And no-one to point it at
Now tell me true
I'm asking you
What do you make of that?

Proposal

Little brown ducks in the lee of the reed-bed
Little brown ducks come to see what's new
Little brown ducks waiting to be fed
I forgot to bring bread
How about you?

Little brown ducks quickly losing interest
Little brown ducks paddle out of view
Here we sit in the lee of the reed-bed
I would like to be wed
How about you?

By the Sea - a poem for bedtime

Teddy and Dolly are waiting for you
In a house beside the sea
It's been a whole day since they saw you
When you arrive what will you see?
What will you see what will you do?
They waited all day long for you
Close your eyes and meet them there
Dolly and her Teddy Bear

Every day Teddy goes
To the beach and snuffs his nose
In wind that blows across the seas
And carries a scent of Tulip Trees
To the windy beach he goes
And snuffs his nose
And snuffs his nose

Every day Dolly sings
Of sun and sand and happy things
She sings and doesn't have a care
And seagulls flying in the air
Float above on snowy wings
Dolly sings
Dolly sings

Every day they eat their tea
While looking out at the sea
There's a space at their table
When you're there, if you're able
Take my love to them for me
When every day they eat their tea

Its getting dark the day is done
It's time to sleep my little one
Do you know, if I were you
Here is what I think I'd do
Visit Teddy by the sea
Play with Dolly - you will see
Before you know it night is done
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun