Pastoral Blues

The cook and the henchman
Have gone home for the day
‘Cause the dikes have all busted
And the town’s washed away

And the tiny tin soldier
He lost his new gun
To a misfit beheader
Who’d only begun

To remove all the noggins
The Mayor approved
And the governor confirmed
Before the scaffold was moved

To the town’s city center
Where the pizza is free
And the women wear hulas
And the men all drink tea

And the children behave
Like they did in the day
And the old folks throw peanuts
At the circus they say

Isn’t half as bizarre
As it was in Oh-Two
When the lions ate taffy
And giraffes ran the zoo.

It’s a dark day indeed,
The sun will stay hid,
The stars are declining
To say what they did

With their sparkle this evening
I guess it hardly seem worth it
To shine for likes of
Cinderella and Miss Moffit.

And the trees all bent backward
For the right to decide
Which leaves will fall first
And on whose lawn they’ll reside.

And the river is damming
Itself for the fall
The beavers are sunken
In a bog by the wall

And the ocean won’t listen
To the hush of the sea
And the bluebird insists
It’s either you or it’s me

And the seagull is circling
And the crow has returned,
And the buzzard is waiting,
The house has been burned.

And the milk has gone sour
And the cream has gone gray,
I can’t stick around
‘Til the end of the day.

There’s a farm in Wyoming
With untouched topsoil,
I’ll head for the sky now
Before the kettles all boil.

The Good Man

If a good man is a wood man
Then could man or even should man -
In the peace that always follows -
Look to the understood man,
And bother asking, "Why?"

No, no man is his own land,
And no hand stays in dry sand,
It is cancelled by the wind,
In the peace that always follows.

Superhero Blues

An army of loners
Assembled at dawn
To release all the pigeons
The generals had won

At a fairground in Memphis
Where the pies are all free
And the strongmen all serve
Burnt toast with High Tea.

But the meddling kids
Let the Boogie Man go,
And the Phantom of the Opera
Is late for the show.

It’s a little known fact
That Batman and Robin
Belong to a men’s club
That race with toboggans

And if Superman loses
His cape and his tie
He’ll fold up his S
And head for the skies

Where Green Goblin and Bogie
Can smoke all they want
And discuss all the losers
Like Descartes and Kant

And Iron Man wishes
His wardrobe had verve;
He’d propose to his girlfriend
When he saved up the nerve.

Oh, I read all the papers
And the news isn’t good,
The bad guys are fearless,
And the cops have all stood

With their hats in their hands
And their guns in their socks;
They’re done with the law,
They’re investing in stocks.

But I try not to worry—
It never does any good.
I’ll sit by the fire,
Until I run out of wood.

Bailout Blues

I’m bankrupt and broken,
I’ve lost all my hair,
The merger fell through,
And I can’t find the stairs.

And my private Lear Jet,
It crashed in a swamp,
And my fourteenth wife Tina
Ran off with some chump

Who offered her roses
And a handful of toys
Then sold her to China
For eleven young boys.

Times have been darker;
Why, I recall a grim day
When my surfboard was drowned
And my maid ran away.

So I’m keeping my spirits
About me just now,
I sing in the shower,
And butcher a cow.

And the moon in the window
Looks lovely to me
The towers are lit,
The crow’s in the tree

And the sound of the sunrise
Due in an hour
Fills me with wonder
And summons the flowers

So I’m resting just easy
And don’t mind the noise
If you jump from the windows
You’ll miss the old joys.

Somewhere A Castle

Oh, the Jester bowed and played his flute
While the Court Magician described the route
Taken by the Prince in his new green carriage
Given to him on the promise of marriage,
While the Queen dissolved in a pool of tears
For the disgrace she’d suffered all these years.

And somewhere the King had forgotten his crown,
When from the Heavens, looking down,
God withdrew his formal offer,
And the Gold and Coins from the royal coffers
Were stored in banks with stony faces
And empty towers and other grim places,

Until the King relinquished his right to decree,
And left it there for you and me,
For the candy bar kids with unread letters
Whistle from rooftops for something better
As somewhere a castle for a sovereign soul to choose,
Where whatever you give you gain, and whatever you
Take you loose.

Corporate Blues

I’ve scratched myself raw
and sold all my spreadsheets
of the business I started
last June when I could speak

Of certain uncertainties I
left for the morning,
and countless defenses
given as warning

For the collapse soon to come
of some fine institutions
that sold all their stocks
to receive restitutions

for all the cold suffering
they shared with the maid
who washed their detergent
and polished their shades

It’s fine to assume
You know that what’s what
And you belong in the game
And you’ll never be cut

But the Finance co-chairman
Has sold all his ties
To a handsome sub-contractor
Who coughs when he lies

And the Executive Branch
Is in disarray
A mole has revealed
The price that they’ll pay

For personal privileges
Like handshakes and kisses
And lasting impressions
For the kids and the Mrs.

So I quit that fine boardroom
I’d had it with gin
My shoes were too tight
And I never fit in

I was given to outbreaks
Of gossip and hate—
And I couldn’t forgive
What they took from my plate

So I bid them farewell—
I gave back my hat
Returned all my tie-pins
And said, “Well that’s that.”

And I headed for Egypt
Where I heard it was warm
And the girls all smile sweetly
If you sound the alarm

But the mullahs were bearded
I preferred a clean shave
And my sandals were sorry
They couldn’t be saved

So I headed for Paris
Where the summers are wet
And the cafes are filled
With people I’ve met

And I talked ‘til the morning
With poets in drag
And slept through the midnight
‘cause I was half in the bag.

Emily Blue

Little Emily Blue,
Who stood a bit below four-foot two,
Who sang when she was wet,
And kept her dolls in the fireplace flue;
Who disliked rice and sometimes jam,
Who cried, “No fair!” if you held her hand,
Sailed for France with the Queen of Spain,
By way of Cape Horn with her spotted Great Dane—
Arrived unfed and demanded tea,
Was given pizza and clapped with glee,
Then went to bed stark naked,
Warmed by the sunset and thoughts of you and me.