monkey boy
03-12-2004, 06:46 PM
This is a bit I wrote a while back with an Irish tenor in mind. life and death issues but I hope 'tis appropos of St. Paddy's day - mb
My name is McMonk and I come from Kildee
and of recent I'm troubled by Eternity
so with hands at my back and my back to the bar
I'll sing you this song while young Meg plays guitar.
One night I awoke from a horrible dream
where around me the fell faceless ban sidhe did scream
and I woke in a sweat and a terrible fear
that my time was but short and the end draweth near.
Now I am a fit man of vigor and strength
and my lifespan's but half of its natural length
but the doom of the dream left me thinking instead
of how I'd comport myself after I'm dead.
I ceased other labor so I could take pains
to discover what's best for my mortal remains
My soul I must trust for I have no control
over where it goes next once I lay in the hole.
In this civilised land in a civilised age
some facts I uncovered did bend me to rage
For you can't have your body laid clean in the ground
without a steel coffin and concrete around.
How can you go back to the place where you came
when you're locked in a box with a stone for your name
I'd rather be feeding the roots of a tree
than vaulted in concrete for eternity.
I had a bleak thought of the whole human race
one by one passing on and still taking up space
For what further use is the vessel you've saved
why hold from the earth what the earth freely gave.
I'm left with one choice and I'll freely choose fire
if I can't have the ground I will take to the pyre
Like Youngblood before me I'll pass through the flame
and trust to my loved ones to carry my name.
My smoke will rise up and be took for my shade
and like mist in the sunshine I slowly will fade
My ashes to blow at the weathercock's whim
if I land in the water I'll have one last swim.
Now my throat is all parched and my tune has gone flat
and I'll trust ye leave copper in sweet Megan's hat
I'm all for a pint and a taste of the pure
and I'll sing no more dirge of the one thing that's sure.
My name is McMonk and I come from Kildee
and of recent I'm troubled by Eternity
so with hands at my back and my back to the bar
I'll sing you this song while young Meg plays guitar.
One night I awoke from a horrible dream
where around me the fell faceless ban sidhe did scream
and I woke in a sweat and a terrible fear
that my time was but short and the end draweth near.
Now I am a fit man of vigor and strength
and my lifespan's but half of its natural length
but the doom of the dream left me thinking instead
of how I'd comport myself after I'm dead.
I ceased other labor so I could take pains
to discover what's best for my mortal remains
My soul I must trust for I have no control
over where it goes next once I lay in the hole.
In this civilised land in a civilised age
some facts I uncovered did bend me to rage
For you can't have your body laid clean in the ground
without a steel coffin and concrete around.
How can you go back to the place where you came
when you're locked in a box with a stone for your name
I'd rather be feeding the roots of a tree
than vaulted in concrete for eternity.
I had a bleak thought of the whole human race
one by one passing on and still taking up space
For what further use is the vessel you've saved
why hold from the earth what the earth freely gave.
I'm left with one choice and I'll freely choose fire
if I can't have the ground I will take to the pyre
Like Youngblood before me I'll pass through the flame
and trust to my loved ones to carry my name.
My smoke will rise up and be took for my shade
and like mist in the sunshine I slowly will fade
My ashes to blow at the weathercock's whim
if I land in the water I'll have one last swim.
Now my throat is all parched and my tune has gone flat
and I'll trust ye leave copper in sweet Megan's hat
I'm all for a pint and a taste of the pure
and I'll sing no more dirge of the one thing that's sure.