Leopard Hunt - Epilogue

Don't fear the phantom of the woods
That haunts the dappled shade
Don't fear the silent claws and paws
Stalking through the glade
Don't fear the rustle of the leaves
Don't fear the yellow tooth
Don't fear the eye - do not cry
I tell you the truth

The forest is your home so go
And play among the trees
Go down to the river side
Go where e'er you please
You need not fear that he'll appear
For he is dead and gone
He met his match and was despatched
But you and I are strong

Take my hand and come with me
Out into the daylight
Watch the shadows melt away
And walk with me in sunlight
Come let's go for I would show
The places that you've never been
You will see and you will know
That 'neath the trees you walk a Queen

Changing the Locks

The big old house in which I lived
Was full of gloom and creaking floors
For oh so many years I lived
In one room behind closed doors

At night I thought I heard the tread
Of footsteps out there in the hall
I used to hide myself in dread
In fear of shadows on the wall

But then one day they went away
And I drove the shadows out
And changed the locks upon my life
And now I live without

The nameless fear that kept me trapped
Within that little room
And now I wander free about
My home and very soon

Every room will be unlocked
And you will come and see
My home transformed - all adorned
And live in it with me

I'll open up the curtains
And you will join me there
I'll look out of the windows
While you sit in the chair

Even in the evening
Even in the night
No more will come the shadows
That sometime gave me fright

Night Shades

Fireworks seen from the air

Small on the horizon and when you get there

Already extinguished except for the smoke

Hanging in the air

A shadow on waking that fades in the light

Slipping from memory - strands of spaghetti

Flee away down the plughole of night

A taste in the mouth

A scent on the air hardly there

A shadow dispelled by the sun

That I'll not think again upon
Till daylight is done

And in darkness again I go there

Simplicity

Complexity for its own sake

Is e'er the work of the fake

To confuscate the credulous

And obfuscate the populace

To obscure their mediocrity

They hide behind tautology

With phrases labyrinthine

They hide a soul that's asinine

Be not fooled by such a man

Come not near the charlatan

For he that bores with wordy verses

Receives the most deserved curses
And writers of gratuitous rhymes
Will suffer justly for their crimes

Marcus Sagacious of the Shoe

I have a friend with deep insight

He knows if you are dull or bright

He'll watch you tie a piece of string

And see the secret of your being

Though some may hide behind false faces

All is revealed tying laces

From the moment that they start

They reveal what's in the heart

How they tie the bunny ears

Reveals their hopes and their fears

And whether they be high or low

He'll know it all from the bow

My friend however can't be read

No one may discern his views

Instead of brogues he wears instead

Every kind of slip-on shoes