Giants
They emerged east about the same time;
one on savanna, a thin one on berm.
To bolster my vantage I started to climb.
(And me, a lowly worm.)
From my pear tree’s crown I perched
like an Olympian god peering through pliant mist.
Bestride a broad branch that looked aged, I researched
(though I’m no scientist).
The first thing I noted was forms:
The giants hadn’t mimicked mine.
They naturally wore them like innocent worms.
(A chill squirmed up my spine.)
As still as a memory they stood.
They seemed one before a reflecting pool.
The berm giant found the robust one good.
(I found them sensational.)
The language they drew was unique.
The tongue I deciphered after a while.
I gathered my mental notes there on the peak
(and smiled a sinuous smile).
To intimately grasp the pair,
I scrambled away from my watchtower spire
and inched my way up by the berm through the air
(hoping to gain some plane higher).
I got to within a few feet--
as invisible to them as a dream--
and landed just as they began to retreat.
(My timing was supreme.)
I followed them into a glen;
distantly, like a repentant apostle.
I watched the plains giant stroke the hairs of the thin
(with a convenient fossil).
Naive and naked, they played;
and, since this preceded the advent of science,
fun was the only voice giants obeyed
(and these were the only two giants).
In my belly I felt something sprout,
like a Polaroid picture developing still.
It colored and surged, squirming to break out
(It’s a wonder I didn’t turn ill.)
Like Blake’s untold anger it grew.
It quickly shed green, then seasoned its sheen.
In a camera flash instant I knew:
I’d worm my way into the scene.
So I silkily smothered their bliss.
Like two hole-less doughnuts, they looked curious.
I called, “Little Daughter” in a long-throated hiss.
It was time to get serious.
I introduced soul and routine.
Poof! Doughnuts had holes and giants were man.
I entered lore and the local cuisine
and hatched my modest plan.
*****wpc*****
pre-Gen 3:14*
*see Rev 12:9
Icicle Blues
Arranged and performed by Audrey W.
Lyrics & melody by jb
1 Woke up this morning
2 Icicle on my nose
3 I got up and closed the window
4 Still I nearly froze
5 I put on a red sweater
6 And antler shoes
7 You got to know this sudden change in weather
8 Has given me them Icicle Blues
a Yeah I’m freezing’ Mama
b Said I’m very cold, said
c I am freezing Mama
d My toes is cold and so’s my head [like a left-out sled]
1 One Christmas season [yuletide]
2 Lo long ago
3 I wanted a Superman blanket
4 So I wrote the North Pole [in kiddy cursive script]
5 Santa told my mother
6 “Here’s what you do:
7 You keep that boy away from frigid women,
8 Or else he’ll contract Icicle Blues”
a I’m chock-ful of wassail [think I’m not? Weebles wobble man]
b And half-thru with you, said
c I’m feelin’ just awful
d Merry Christmas, Santa’s dead [think he’s not? He is]
[MUSICAL INTERLUDE]
1 Woebegone Christmas
2 Soul-grackle gnaws [clack-clack]
3 Cold stony eyes of shelf elves fully fix me [frostily]
4 Cobalt, unthawed [ironically]
5 I trip-toed on tinsel
6 Quadrupled booze
7 Got this colossal wassail goblet fisted
8 Got those unasked-for Icicle Blues [think I don,t? I do]
a Yeah I’m freezing’ Mama [think I’m not? Well it’s true]
b Assaulted the wassail, stood abused
c Thaw me out some Mama
d ‘fore I become an icicle cube [a big square one time]