Monkey & Bear

Down in the green hay
Where monkey and bear usually lay (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

But Did you hear that, Bear? said
Monkey, we'll get out of here, fair and square
They left the gate open wide

So, my bride, here is my hand Where is your paw?
Try and understand my plan, Ursula
My heart is a furnace
Full of 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 Ursula, 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 bare 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?
Though 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 till 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, don't look backwards
Your feast is to the East, which lies a little past the pasture
And 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 Ursula's heart beat faster
Than monkey's ever will

But still, they had 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 dung-brown gown of fur
And her jerkin of swan's down 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, Ursula 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 apron full 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
Bear had 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 bury your teeth