just passing through

notes


The lips of laburnum drool fire
and soon do the June days pass
But I will always remember
the swish of your feet through the grass.

O the swish of your feet through the grass
and my bare toes at your side
When the sunlight left the sallies
and the dancing mayflies died.

When the dancing mayflies died
their dance was merry and good
You were a man and I was a boy
walking through Carhan Wood
While the field mice sang in the hay
And they cloaked their songs in silence
when I ran to where they lay.

When I ran to where they lay
my bare feet noised like guns
You laughed and you called me away with,
"Don’t frighten the timid ones."

"Don’t frighten the timid ones,"
and now you have frightened me
I’m always calling your name
between the hill and the sea
And through the quiet town;
Where they tell me they took you away
in a coffin of silver and brown.

In a coffin of silver and brown
while you lay lonely and still
But I know you’re hiding somewhere
between the sea and the hill

So between the sea and the hill
I will hide in the lushy grass
Where are you, O where are you?
I am waiting until you pass.

I am waiting until you pass.



("The Boy Remembers His Father" by Sigerson Clifford)