Step softly now
See their hooded eyes
Keep us close at hand
You may need our quick advice.
But everybody’s watching you
They got a lot to say
Just keep their words within a jar
We’ll open it one day.
After all
Life was never meant to be your home.
Life was never nothing but the road you chose to take.
Step softly now
Feel the hidden hand
Through the bushes it extends to you
The outline of a man.
Then he says “Hide! Duck!
Back up against the van where they can’t see you
Crawl over to the shadows where we’re waiting
For we may be the only ones who need you.”
After all
Life was never meant to be your home.
Life was never nothing but the road you chose to take.
And how do you feel now?
Standing on your own
Like a column made of fire
A feeling that you could be quite alone?
Move swiftly now
Don’t believe you have a friend
They just like to watch you trip and fall
They’ll push you down again.
So quickly run back
Into the alleyway where they can’t see you
Press up against a tree and we will be there
Perhaps we are the only ones who need you.
After all
Life was never meant to be your home.
Life was never nothing but the road you chose to take.
This is a story about a little man the Pine Fairy notices is stuck to the side of one of his mason jars, just as he was about to clean it. Instead, he is able to set the little guy free to begin a new life and possibly start a new family. He is happy to learn the small fairy’s story. Although tragic from our perspective, the tiny fairy has a detached perspective on all he has experienced and sees it as part of a greater picture that is still unfolding.
What kind of fairy is the small man? I am not sure. Considering I ate paw paws and cornbread before sleeping and heard this song during the night, a baby corn fairy or a paw paw fairy would be my top choices. Probably corn, because corn fairies seem to have a detached, inhuman nature that is very accepting of death and are frequently engaged in emotionless violence.
*
My daddy he was a woodworking man and
he had six fine sons to share his name.
Three were big and three were small,
but still my father loved us all the same.
He bounced the big ones on his knee and
the little ones he placed in a candy dish.
He said the big ones would be his pride and
the little ones they would grant his final wish.
Many of the Brothers were sent to fight a war.
Other of the brothers were left within a jar.
One days when we were fourteen,
cannonballs and bullets filled the sky.
Daddy packed up three sandwiches and
kissed the three large brothers all goodbye.
He said, “Now you must remember sons, that
there will come a day when life is done for all.
What matters most is you must not cry,
just stand up straight and look death in the eye, real tall.”
Many of the Brothers were sent to fight a war.
Other of the brothers were left within a jar.
We watched the brothers vanish
in the distance as dad held us in his hand.
He said, “I love you my small sons,
now it’s time to grant a wish for your old man.”
Then he dropped us all in a mason jar and
he shook us hard until two of us had died.
Then he fell on the floor and shook as though
his wiring had been shattered from inside.
Then he quivered till he grew real still and
I knew that the only brother left was me;
Just one tiny seed remained from
what had once been a big family.
Many of the brothers were sent to fight a war.
Other of the brothers were left within a jar.
I was of the brothers left within a jar.
Why is the wind so cold? Shiver and shake, then shut the door… I don’t need friends like that much anymore. Why is the sun so silver, shining in the sky like a dime? I must have lost track of the time.
Where did I put my glasses? Knocking the jars down with my hand Spilling the corn meal and the sand. Three legged stool, I think I’ll sit down on you just for a while… Head in my hands, I’m crying now.
Time. Sky. There must be somewhere nice where all the birds go when they fly. Space. Darkness falls casting its purple on my face.
Where is my cane, again? Oh, I see it leaning by the door. Perhaps the two of us will go explore. Just take a walk and let the wind try to hurt us as it will… Friends that can bleed but cannot kill.
Time. Pain. Blood dripping in the mason jar- but not in vain. Need. Planting us painfully with a golden seed.
And when the moon comes up we’ll capture it silver in our eyes… Just a man and his cane walking side by side. And when the moon comes up we’ll follow the silver it unrolls… Just a man and his cane going for a stroll.
