Down in the green hay
Where monkey and bear usually lay
They woke from a stable-boy's cry
Said "Someone come quick,
The horses got loose, got grass-sick,
They'll founder, fain, they'll die."
What is now known by the sorrel and the roan,
By the chestnut, and the bay, and the gelding grey
It is stay by the gate you are given
And remain in your place for your season
And had the overfed dead but listened
To that high-fence horse-sense wisdom.
Did you hear that, Bear? said Monkey
We'll get out of here, fair and square
They've left the gate open wide
So, my bride,
Here is my hand, where is your paw?
Try and understand my plan, Ursala
My heart is a furnace
Full o love that's just and earnest
Now you know that we must unlearn this
Allegiance to a life of service
And no longer answer to that heartless
Hay-monger, nor be his accomplice
The charlatan with artless hustling
But Ursala, we've got to eat something
And earn our keep, while still within
The borders of the land that man has girded
All double-bolted and tightfisted
Until we reach the open country
A-steeped in milk and honey
Will you keep your fancy clothes on for me?
Can you bear a little longer to wear that leash?
My love, I swear by the air I breathe:
Sooner or later, you'll bare your teeth.
But for now, just dance, darling
C'mon, will you dance, my darling?
Darling, there's a place for us
Can we go, before I turn to dust?
Oh, my darling, there's a place for us.
Oh darling
C'mon will you dance, my darling?
Oh, the hills are groaning with excess
Like a table ceaselessly being set
Oh my darling, we will get there yet.
They trooped past the guards,
Past the coops and the fields and the farmyards
All night, til finally
The space they gained grew
Much farther than the stone that bear threw
To mark where they'd stop for tea
But walk a little faster and don't look backwards
Your feast is to the east, which lies a little past the pasture
When the blackbirds hear tea whistling, they rise and clap
And their applause caws the kettle black
And we can't have none of that!
Move along, Bear, there there, that’s that.
Though cast in plaster
Our Ursala's heart beat faster
Than monkey's ever will.
But still,
They have got to pay the bills
Hadn't they?
That is what the monkey'd say
So, with the courage of a clown, or a cur,
Or a kite jerking tight at its tether
In her dun-brown gown of fur
And her jerkin of swansdown and leather
Bear would sway on her hind legs
The organ would grind dregs of song for the pleasure
Of the children, who'd shriek
Throwing coins at her feet
And recoiling in terror
Sing, dance, darling
C'mon, will you dance, my darling?
Oh darling, there's a place for us
Can we go before I turn to dust?
Oh my darling, there’s a place for us.
Oh darling
C'mon, will you dance, my darling?
You keep your eyes fixed on the highest hill
Where you'll ever after eat your fill
Oh my darling, dear, mine
If you dance
Dance, darling, and I'll love you still.
Deep in the night
Shone a weak and miserly light
Where the monkey shouldered his lamp
Someone had told him
The bear'd been wandering
A fair piece away from where they were camped
Someone had told him
The bear'd been sneaking away
To the seaside caverns to bathe
And the thought troubled the monkey
For he was afraid of spelunking down in those caves
Also afraid what the village people would say
If they saw the bear in that state
Lolling and splashing obscenely
Well, it seemed irrational, really, washing that face
Washing that matted and flea-bit pelt
In some sea-spit-shine, old kelp dripping with brine
But Monkey just laughed, and he muttered
When she comes back, Ursala will be bursting with pride
Till I jump up
Saying: you've been rolling in muck
Saying: you smell of garbage and grime
But far out
Far out
By now
By now
Far out, by now, Bear ploughed
'Cause she would not drown
First the outside-legs of the bear
Up and fell down in the water, like knobby garters
Then the outside-arms of the bear
Fell off as easy as if sloughed from boiled tomatoes
Lowered in a genteel curtsy
Bear shed the mantle of her diluvian shoulders;
And with a sigh,
She allowed the burden of belly to drop like an apronfull of boulders
If you could hold up her threadbare
Coat to the light where it's worn translucent in places
You'd see spots where
Almost every night of the year Beard been mending, suspending that baseness
Now her coat drags through the water
Bagging with a life's-worth of hunger, limitless minnows
In the magnetic embrace
Balletic and glacial of Bear's insatiable shadow
Left there!
Left there!
When Bear left Bear
Left there!
Left there!
When Bear stepped clear of Bear!
Sooner or later you'll bare your teeth.
--Monkey & Bear by Joanna Newsom. It's been stuck in my head almost all day. Also lyrics may not be 100% accurate because I suck and can't remember all the punctuation








--
That's some real conversation for your ass.
Thanks for the fav
--
wild and wonderful beasts
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...and then the words seemed to fly off the page and weave themselves into a beautiful picture...
Behold. the powers of the mighty Beatnik
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