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THE EASTER TREE (Dave Goulder) Rain falls upon the Easter tree The squirrel shakes his head and shivers in his red and sodden fur The wind and water flatten out his ears and cause his streaming eyes to close The smell of death is heavy in his nose The sun dries out the Easter tree The rabbit looks around sees a shadow on the ground and runs for home The songbird finds a strange and novel perch to shout his challenge to the day The hair beneath his feet is turning grey A man hangs from the Easter tree His deathbed is a rope, four strong nails have killed his hope of climbing down His jaws are locked in agony, are open for the flies to come and go His eyes are in the belly of the crow A dog sits by the Easter tree Beneath the naked heels his master or his meal will surely fall When the rope is broken by the wind or the rusty nails release their withered load The dog, well fed, continues down the road Bones lie beneath the easter tree The skull's now full of sand could never understand the reason why The thread of life was broken by a hand that never cared to know their names They played and lost in someone else's game The leaves upon the Easter tree Are red with human blood since justice chose the wood to make a sword When a man was hanged at Tyburn tree or crucified along the road to Rome His blood and tears have stained the face of stone Transcribed from "Ashes and Diamonds" -- June Tabor (1977) The "Tyburn tree" was the "gallows tree" in England in past centuries. copyright: Dave Goulder filename[ EASTRTRE MP OCT98 |
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