Long Way To Earth... Part 4

And to Bella, a local town girl and kitchen aid who was sitting next to them by the cooking fires of the High Castle, Bromford, the bard said, 'I used to be the greatest and bestest bard of all towns and times, you know. I once gave Marie-Antoinette a wonderful dream about cakes and cookies the last night before her decapitation.'

'Who is Marie-Antoinette?' Bella asked.

'And what is a decapitation?' the llama wanted to know.

'Marie-Antoinette was the former Queen of the Kingdom of France', the bard answered, 'and it was the last night before she lost her head.'

'Oh', said the llama as it understood.

'She lost her head?' asked Bella, the kitchen aid. 'Where did she put it? In one of her many, many drawers and cupboards?'

'Dummy', said the llama rudely, 'she didn't lose it like in she mislaid it. They cut off her head with a sharp blade they called the Guillotine.'

'Oh', Bella sighed puzzled and shocked and she hurried away from the warmth and the lights of the cooking fires into the night as quick as she could.

The llama's looks followed her through the kitchen door into the dark of the hallways and corridors of the silently sleeping High Castle of Bromford.

Today is Wednesday, the 4th of December 2024

"Bromford To Bella, Pt. 1"

Bromford to Bella
You think you've got it all figured in
Bromford to Bella
Everything you know is wrong. Well, almost
Bromford to Bella
I've seen when you are not listening
I bear the burden
Of being the voice that lets you know
We all grow old

And before you swim you've got to be okay to sink

Bromford to Bella
The world can be an unfriendly place
So hold your head up (Hold your head up)
And do your best to save some face
It's not so hard
Just undo yourself and see a
Second sun ascend

Okay to sink
I'm okay to sink
Okay to sink
Okay to sink

"Bromford To Bella, Pt. 2"

Bromford to Bella
This is a quiet emergency
Bromford to Bella
There's so much more to get than wronged
Bromford to Bella
You're treading water successfully
But are you really
Don't you want to see the deep
It's not so hard
Just forgive yourself and feel the water open in

Long Way To Earth... Part 3

'And the best animal companion it was, this KussKuss, the brown llama', said KussKuss, the llama, 'and the best Bromford, the bard, will ever have. He will never ever find and never ever search for another animal companion ever, ever again. And the llama was called KussKuss, the llama, because it liked to kiss kiss every time someone spoke...'

'Stop interrupting my stories', said Bromford, the bard, 'you are making me lose my flow.'

Today is Tuesday, the 3rd of December 2024

"Praise The Bromford (Wheels Of Amber And Gold)"

I praised the sun whose chariot rolled
On wheels of amber and of gold

I sang to the moon whose softer eye
Gleamed sweetly through the summer sky

I praised the Bromford in beauty seen
With garlands gay of various green

Behold the sea whose ample field
Shines glorious as a silver shield

And moon and sun they seemed to cry
Our gift of light will one day expire

Oh, the Almighty beyond compare
If even your meaner works are fair
If your beauties can gild the span
Of ruined Bromford and sinful man
Then tell me
Where have they gone?
Our dreams and all we've done
Where have they gone?

"Praise The Bomford (An Ephemeral Play)"

I praised the sun whose chariot rolled
On wheels of amber and of gold
To hot to hold

I sang to the moon whose softer eye
Gleamed sweetly through the summer sky
For you and I

And moon and sun in answer said
Our gift of light will one day be dead
To darkness wed

Oh darling where does it go
Our dreams and all the we know?
Into oblivion (?)

I praised the Bromford in beauty seen
With garlands gay of various green
A noble queen

Behold the sea whose ample field
Shines glorious as a silver shield
To which I yield

And Bromford and ocean they seemed to say
Our beauties last but for a day
An ephemeral play

Oh darling where have they gone
Our dreams and all that we've done?
Into the unknown (?)

Long Way To Earth... Part 2

The bard's name was Bromford. He lived in a High Castle that was also called Bromford like the town and the bard - together with his long-time companion - KussKuss, the brown llama.

Today is Monday, the 2nd of December 2024

 "Time Above The Bromford"

I've spent so much time above the Bromford
Thinking about life and each man's worth
How could one person be worth more than
A thousand people knocking on his door?
Still, the motion of your hair
Well, that could take me anywhere
Because you're happier than I
Please don't say goodbye

Then I get off the plane
A thousand thoughts reaching through my brain
Like, am I really here at all?
Will I see her again?
If I do, will it feel the same?
And am I really here at all?

Long Way To Earth... Part 1

Once upon a time and a long, long time ago in a land not far away from here in a friendly town by a bay and seaside lived a bard who was called like the town. Or maybe the town was named after the bard? We will never know.

Today is Sunday, the 1st of December 2024

First Sunday of Advent

"Marie Antoinette - The Last Night On Bromford"

RINGMASTER
The widow now bereft, abhorred
Counts numbered days the summer long
In Temple Prison with her spawn
On pretext of 'unnatural acts'
With jests and jibes and guile and facts
The 'sans culottes' prune the tree
Now a sister to the dispossessed
The halt, like maimed and all the rest
Like a leaf on a pitiless sea
Shorn of family and rank
Humbled in the dank air
She mingles with the dancers macabre
And the ghostly dancers twirl
In that dread minuet
And beggar the illusions of that little Austrian Girl