The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #96033   Message #1873183
Posted By: Mick Pearce (MCP)
31-Oct-06 - 01:37 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Roland's Oak (Peter Bond)
Subject: Lyr Add: ROLAND'S OAK (Peter Bond)
Yes, Kate was asking a while ago if there were any sleeve notes on the LP.

Here are the words:

Mick



ROLAND'S OAK
(Peter Bond)

In a clearing lived a man of hearts whose only family was a forest
Through the threatening peep or the chattering creek the earth spoke
There were no children playing round his feet and none to listen to his story
And the longing grew strong to leave something to show
That he's passed through the world, a reminder to grow
So he planted a seed so the forest would know -
Roland's Oak.

Across a bridge that bears the name of kings the engines shake their drunken rattle
And in the names on the side fame and infamy ride through the smoke.
And there are streets for generals and boulevards to celebrate the battle.
Is it vanity or is it fear of the dark
Leads a man to believe he must carve out a mark
Like the lovers carve sanity into the bark
Of Roland's Oak.

Now in that clearing stands a cenotaph, a lifeless monument to madness,
And the tree he had sown, the hope he had grown, fell at a stroke.
And there the earth is barren, nothing prospers in that sour stream of sadness.
Noone said to the woodcutter, "Stop! Let it be,
For there's more than just Roland whose hope's in that tree
Will the world be a desert before we can see
Roland's Oak?"


Source: Peter Bond, LP: Awkward Age