Songs from the Willow Bank - Part One

To Vi-Ta

1. The River Bank

O, happiness is never quite complete
While everything’s a-shiver and a-shake:
The soul, so old, is never wide awake,
At least it’s young enough to scorn stampede.

The world abounds with charms that ever plead
Or clamour for attention – always make
Us up, take notice, follow in the wake
Before we ask ourselves if we’re in need.

Halt! Waggle your toes with sheer happiness,
Shove wicker luncheon-basket underfoot
Replete with bits of recent pantry loot,
For in your home are things that God has blessed.

No, happiness is never quite complete.
Step out – there are so many joys to greet.

2. The Open Road

While stars grow fuller and larger
And a yellow moon is our silent guest,
The deepening dusk is a margin
Of the fiery day t’wards a good night’s rest.

And the dreams grow vaguer and bleaker
While the fire within us turns to a glow.
Life seems but the faintest flicker
Till you wonder if it’s ever been bestow’d.

Yet the faint warning hum is here
Like the drone of a bee that flies to its load,
And it says to us quiet but clear
That the morning will break and we’ll take this road.

3. The Wild Wood

When the summer is all but forgotten
With the rapid advance of the dusk,
Through the surface that has become rotten
Comes a-tearing an ominous tusk.

As you brace yourself for further striding
And suppress the desire to run,
Holes get open with faces in hiding,
Whistles proclaim an advent of ghoul fun.

Thus, before once again we paint over
Wild Wood Terrors that sleep in our souls,
They will make us go pale and faint over
Hidden depths that make our lives one whole.

4. Mr. Badger

You must be perished in this world –
It’s not the sort to be out in.
You cannot, though, stay lying curled,
Denying journeys that begin.

You hope that, as the day wears on,
You’ll have your supper by the fire
When all your energy is gone,
Your zest in life all but expired.

Oh, Mr. God, let other things
Wait so obligingly for us
While, having taken off our wings,
We raise the evening’s longed-for glass.

5. Dulce Domum

They all are safe indoors tonight
While we are plodding on.
Their homes are warm, embracing, kind,
And overflowing with lamplight,
Just like a merry song.

In mufflers wrapped, we pass on by,
The summons in our ears –
The fairy calls that never lie
Which will change to a lullaby
The moment we appear.

Our homes are missing us tonight,
We’ve been away all day;
And never are our homes so kind,
So warm with shades and smells and light,
When a few steps away.

6. Mr. Toad

The world is one gross outrage –
It knocks upon the door,
Enjoins me to respect my age
And swagger out no more.

I am a fool, its sentence runs,
Who disregarded rules,
To reason to be brought at once
By any fitting tools

Until my blustering spirit fades
And the conversion sets
Preventing my descent to Hades,
To infamy, to debts.

You know, it’s for your own good,
Steer right and you’ll be blessed –
And thus it drains my veins of blood,
Makes life devoid of zest.

I may be sensible today,
Tomorrow nincompoop,
But in my head I always play
In cars that go “poop-poop”.