Capo 5th fret

Standard (EADGBE)

(

down in the green hay

)

where monkey and bear usually lay

 they woke from a stable-boy's cry

 he 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...

"did you hear that, Bear?" said monkey

 we'll get out of here, fair and square

 they've left the gate open wide!

so;

 my bride

here is my hand, where is your paw?

try and understand my plan, Ursala

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

 (that charlatan, with artless hustling!)

 but; Ursala, 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 bear 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?

 oh, 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

 and don't look backwards

 your feast is to the East, which lies a little past the

pasture

 when 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 Ursala's heart beat faster

 than monkey's ever will)

but still;

they have 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 dun-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

 then 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 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 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

, , , , , (,

 (sooner or later, you'll bare your teeth...)