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Pillary stocks at the gallows tree dock |
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the crowd grew impatient the clouds threatened rain |
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Elephant arrived at the Constable's side, |
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with her trunk locked in shackles, and her ankles in chains |
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"All rise, all rise, his Honor presides," |
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the Judge took the bench to the village brass cavalcade, |
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Elephant refused to swear the oath, |
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Said "I don't know anything about truth, |
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but I know falsehood when I see it, |
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and it looks like this whole world you've made" |
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Good of our chaplain to sail Kalispell Bay |
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And now down on his marrow for this old fool to pray, |
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"Lord, for sixty-some years I've surrendered my love, |
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to emblems of kindness, and not the kindness they were emblems of, |
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Trammels and rings, with the strength of old strings, |
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and some hobble skirt spring, by the old problem caught, |
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Children, sometimes I think all our thoughts are just things, |
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and then sometimes think things are just thoughts," |
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and the rabble rang |
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Hang! The Elephant must hang! The Elephant must hang! |
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Hang! The Elephant must hang! The Elephant must hang! |
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A thirteen coil knot for the samovar pot! Scottish Oatcakes in haversacks each to its grave |
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This mock trial can no more determine my lot, |
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than can driftwood determine the ocean's waves, |
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Brandish your ropes and your boards, and your basket-hilt swords, |
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but what is there can punish like a conscience ignored? |
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Yes, my body did just as you implied, |
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while some ghost we'll call 'I' idly watched through its eyes," |
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and the jury sang, |
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Hang! The Elephant must hang! The Elephant must hang! |
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Hang! The Elephant must hang! The Elephant must hang! |
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Hang! The Elephant must hang! The Elephant must hang! |
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Hang! The Elephant must hang! The Elephant must hang! |
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I feel it stealing now |
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All adrift fathoms down |
