The Last Enchanteur

  

The Snake Charmer, Henri Rousseau, 1907

Gather round and hear my tale of paper-cut leaves

and sticky tape, punch out birds and string grass dipped in glue

and painted tempura green.

Come children and listen to the whistle of the man-dog-gorilla,

on his hind legs, cloaked with skin of others and his own.

His splayed toes grip the bank and the pipe,

his chant slinks undulating to the moon, picking up wayfarers,

footless beasts with ears all belly and sound like lunar rings.

His familiar, if he has one, waits again, keeping erect,

apart, listening for the songs’ end:

the transfiguration of serpents to leaves to trees to sound

that flies and grows wings be-feathered,

tosses from limb to limb to fern and vine.

Keep close children:  do not stray: the enchantment lasts

only for now, here in this grove of tenderness

while beyond the water, where the moon lands coyly,

the serpents have no speech to respond to the call,

no souls to uplift, no laughter to charm the feathers from the trees.

Away, the leaves are not cut paper but poison and dead,

the grass nettles, the fangs bite.

The dog-man-gorilla is haunted and snared

and his song and all its lessons, dies in silence.

Thanks to Tess Kincaid for the image and the prompt.  More Magpie are here

Magic Snakes Rules

image courtesy of Tess at magpie tales

Magic Snakes Rules

We always played games in the car

until mum threatened to throw the snakes out the window if we weren’t quiet

we’d watch the clock blink until we could speak again

those were the rules.

We listened to the Magic Pudding:

one snake each

and then we heard James and the Giant Peach and

then we had two snakes.

I always wanted the green ones and Petal always wanted the yellow ones.

We played eye-spy and spelling-bee and

we sang along to Bananas in Pyjamas and

I sang the Queen of the Night

and we all had one snake each.

Petal fell asleep and Mum took over the driving

We listened to Mowgli and the Enormous Crocodile and

Dad ate all the red ones

I fell asleep and Mowgli’s crocodile fed snakes to the Magic Flute

Mum never did throw them out the window.

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