(AmGF
down in the green hay
AGD)
where monkey and bear usually lay
AmFAm
they woke from a stable-boy's cry
AmGF
he said; someone come quick!
AGD
the horses got loose, got grass-sick!
AmFAm
they'll founder! fain, they'll die
CmCCadd9EEsus4E
what is now known by the sorrel and the roan?
Esus4EEsus4Eadd9EE
by the chestnut, and the bay, and the gelding grey?
AmGD
it is: stay by the gate you are given
CGF
and remain in your place, for your season
AmGC
and had the overfed dead but listened
FGA
to that high-fence, horse-sense, wisdom...
AmGFD
"did you hear that, Bear?" said monkey
GDD/A
we'll get out of here, fair and square
AmFAm
they've left the gate open wide!
Am
so;
D
my bride
AmD
here is my hand, where is your paw?
AmD
try and understand my plan, Ursala
AmD
my heart is a furnace
AmD
full of love that's just, and earnest
AmD
now; you know that we must unlearn this
AmD
allegiance to a life of service
AmD
and no longer answer to that heartless
AmD
hay-monger, nor be his accomplice
AmD
(that charlatan, with artless hustling!)
AmD
but; Ursala, we've got to eat something
AmD
and earn our keep, while still within
AmD
the borders of the land that man has girded
AmD
(all double-bolted and tightfisted!)
AmD
until we reach the open country
AmD
a-steeped in milk and honey
AmD
will you keep your fancy clothes on, for me?
AmD
can you bear a little longer to wear that leash?
AmD
my love, I swear by the air I breathe:
AmCFAm
sooner or later, you'll bare your teeth
AmD
but for now, just dance, darling
AmE
c'mon, will you dance, my darling?
AmC
darling, there's a place for us
FD
can we go, before I turn to dust?
AmCFAm
oh my darling, there's a place for us
AmD
oh darling
AmE
c'mon will you dance, my darling?
AmC
oh, the hills are groaning with excess
FD
like a table ceaselessly being set
AmCFAm
oh my darling, we will get there yet
AmGF
they trooped past the guards,
AGD (F, G)
past the coops, and the fields, and the farmyards
AmFAm
all night, till finally:
AmGF
the space they gained grew
AGD (F, G)
much farther than the stone that bear threw
AmFAm
to mark where they'd stop for tea
CmCCadd9
but walk a little faster
EEsus4EEsus4
and don't look backwards
EEsus4EEadd9EEadd9
your feast is to the East, which lies a little past the
E
pasture
AmGF
when the blackbirds hear tea whistling, they rise and clap
CGF
and their applause caws the kettle black
AmGC
and we can't have none of that!
AmGD
move along, Bear; there, there; that�s that
AmGF
(though cast in plaster
AGD (F, G)
our Ursala's heart beat faster
AmFAm
than monkey's ever will)
AmD
but still;
AmD
they have got to pay the bills
AmD
hadn't they?
AmD
that is what the monkey'd say
AmDAm
so, with the courage of a clown, or a cur
DAm
or a kite, jerking tight at its tether
DAm
in her dun-brown gown of fur
DAm
and her jerkin of swan's down and leather
DAm
Bear would sway on her hind legs;
DAm
the organ would grind dregs of song, for the pleasure
D
of the children, who'd shriek
Am
throwing coins at her feet
DAm
then recoiling in terror
D
sing, dance, darling
AmE
c'mon, will you dance, my darling?
AmC
oh darling, there's a place for us
FD
can we go, before I turn to dust?
AmCFAm
oh my darling, there�s a place for us
AmD
oh darling
AmE
c'mon, will you dance, my darling?
AmC
you keep your eyes fixed on the highest hill
FD
where you'll ever-after eat your fill
AmCFD
oh my darling, dear, mine
Am
if you dance
CFAm
dance, darling, and i love you still
Am
deep in the night
shone a weak and miserly light
where the monkey shouldered his lamp
someone had told him
the bear had 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
'til 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
low'red 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
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
Am, G, F, A, G, D (F,
Am, F, GAmCFAm
(sooner or later, you'll bare your teeth...)