The humming trees, the humming trees,
The place where buzzing bumble-bees
Can dine together and take their ease;
Where blossoms bloom and hide the leaves
On which those busy little thieves
Now sit and snooze in flowering eaves;
While I beneath just start to sneeze
And wipe my nose, nor can I breathe
The scent of plants that do not please:
Still round my head those rumbling bees
Buzz drowsy through the humming trees.
Category Archives: Poems & Lyrics
English verses, mostly not very serious
My Mandolin
A mandolin, my mandolin,
Not a guitar or a violin,
Not a tortoise or a pangolin,
Not an emperor or a mandarin,
Nor a statue nor a mannequin,
Nor a sedan chair nor a palanquin,
But a plectrum-plucky mandolin,
An eight-stringed maple mandolin
Whose strings go zing
And ring-a-ling-ling,
And dum-diddly-ding –
Music to make your heart sing –
Try it, it will make you grin
If you too learn to play the mandolin.
Dies Irae: a modern paraphrase
Day of anger, that awful day,
Last curtain call, last tragic play,
The day our world was thrown away.
A trumpet sounds, all shake with fear,
Pitiless sound so wondrous clear,
Summon the Judge who sheds no tear.
The dead shall rise, groaning, accusing,
Burden of blame our sins assuming,
Lost lives unborn our guilt refusing.
Dead and alive and not yet born
Will stand before the court forlorn,
Upon the book their deeds are sworn:
Poverty, debt, third-world hunger,
Warring tribes, lands torn asunder,
Earth rebels, waves roll us under;
Ice caps melting, global warming,
Polluting smog from chimneys yawning,
Dying planet wreathed in mourning.
No god, no king, no head of state
Can our crimes ameliorate
Before the drear, dread frown of Fate.
Damned, confounded, cursed, despised,
Imploring hands reach to the skies,
All cry ‘mercy’ – no voice replies.
Repent too late, too late to pray,
There’s no one listening anyway,
Our fragile world died yesterday.
Pirate Dogs: A Shaggy Sea Shanty
Pirate dogs like hunting rabbits
O’er the wide and mighty sea.
Pirate dogs like hiding treasure:
Bones and shoes and mouldy brie.
Pirate dogs like singing shanties:
Fa tra la tra la tra lee.
Once there was a pirate captain,
Greatest pirate of them all,
Black he was and stripy silver,
Standing almost two feet tall;
Everywhere his name was dreaded,
Pirate Captain Cat-a-Waul.
Fear and terror were his weapons,
Teeth and claws and pistols too.
Jolly tars and desperadoes,
Barking mad were all his crew,
Sailing far and wide the oceans
On the good ship Kangaroo.
Captain Cat-a-Waul and pirates
Sailing fast to Dogger Bank,
Caught some rabbits for their breakfast,
Made some kittens walk the plank;
Howled with laughter, then fell silent:
“Listen lads, now I’ll be frank,”
Quoth the Captain, “Hounds, look lively,
Haul the rigging, swab the poop,
Hoist the anchor, splice the mainbrace,
Noses out the chicken coop;
Heave, unfurl the Jolly Roger,
Here’s a little doggy scoop:
“Captain Post the cruising mailman,
Sails today from Barking town,
Carries letters, parcels, boxes,
Paper white and cardboard brown,
Let us chase him, catch him, bite him,
Send him o’er the side to drown.”
Quoth the cunning canine Captain,
Howling wolves all cheered with glee:
Pirate dogs like chasing postmen
O’er the wide and mighty sea.
Pirate dogs like dancing hornpipes:
Diddle-di diddle-di dum di dee.
Poor old Captain Post the mailman,
Hounded night and day by barks,
Sounds of warning, sounds of danger,
Sounds of fear, to these he harks:
Barks now louder, barks now nearer,
Soon he’ll be just food for sharks.
Cat-a-Waul sails closer, closer,
Fires the guns with dreadful roar,
Pirates yelp and board the post-ship,
Teeth and claws all sharp for war,
Grab the sacks and bags of letters,
Sink their prize in sight of shore.
Poor old Captain Post now captured,
Trembling, shaking, lacking hope;
“Walk the plank, ye scurvy mailman,”
Cat-a-Waul is there to gloat,
Leaning on a soggy mailbag,
Chewing on an envelope.
Something new and unexpected
Caught the pirate’s blood-red eye,
Written on the chewed-up paper
Words that made him give a cry:
“Dearest darling, love you always,
From your sweetest cutie-pie.”
Long-lost letter from his lost love,
Pampered poodle Clementine:
“Captain dearest, do you love me?
Tell me true, will you be mine?”
Wrote the poodle to her sweetheart;
Blood-red eyes now filled with brine.
Said the Captain to his pirates,
“Hounds, my hate is now forgot:
Clementine still loves me truly,
Though I thought she loved me not.
Darling Clementine I’m coming
Back to tie the marriage knot!”
Then the Captain to the postmen,
Bending knees he seemed to pray:
“Sorry, sorry, please forgive me,
Friends, my friends, what can I say?
Kangaroo is now your post-ship,
Sail her near and far away.”
Pirate dogs now live as lubbers,
Sleep on hearths far from the sea,
Home is now the Captain’s castle,
Clementine now cooks their tea;
But the dogs still chase those rabbits,
O’er the fields now running free.
Pirate dogs still dance their hornpipes:
Diddle-di diddle-di dum di dee.
[Just one specimen of many silly verses written by Mark Walker]