OPENING

In the dead of night
Running side by side
Keeping up with bear
A rat and a rabbit

In the light of dawn
Parents find them gone
Running quick and quiet
To the river side

In the sky above
Wind is growing rough
Wings are very tired
Far below a fire by the river side

SHAELEM RELAGH

Well I go by the name Shaelam Relagh
I like to sleep under the stars
I carry no coins and wear no shoes
The river provides me with my food
Now I'm going to tell you what I saw
One morning when the day began to dawn
The sky was churned and twisted dark and mean
The wind made swaying fools of the trees
It whipped the water made it hiss and sting
Sent the birds as kites without the string
Then when the biggest tree bent like a birch
I felt a cruel wrenching of the earth
It fell across that river deep and wide
Its highest branches on the other side

And the first thought on my mind
Was I will cross that fallen pine
And I will leave this life I’ve made
Start it all over again

Well I only got a little way along
When something up ahead made me stop
Not only had that tree began to move
A giant bear was running for me too
I had no time to run I just lay flat
Waited for that bear to break my back
But all I felt was something very small
Run across my body that was all
And when I finally opened up my eyes
The tree had left the riverbank behind

BIRD

I am a bird
With pretty peppered wings
And green across my throat
Or maybe it’s more
Like emerald from the sea

Caught in a storm
Wings tired and torn
I sheltered in a tree
And everything did dance
As if the world was mad

Then came a groan
Like tendons and bones
Were torn and cracked and split
The tallest of them all
The river caught its fall

He was a man
With heavy gentle hands
He used to feed me grains
Pecking from his palm
He'd fill my head with praise

Then like a grub
Becomes beautiful
He disappeared and then
Came back as a bear

Oh, I never saw
Magic before
I know I will again
But until then
I'll wait my one
Until the day you come

Now he’s a fish
And I can't be with
Him so I'll wait instead
Where the river ends
I know that we’ll meet there

So now all I do
Is wait here for you
At this great oceans edge
Coz

I know that you’ll be
A bird the next time
That we meet

BIRD LOVES THE BEAR

So I follow him wherever he may go
Once or twice he let me perch on his shoulder
He’s so brave and true and handsome for a beast
When he sleeps I sleep above him in the trees
Oh my I think I’m falling in love
In love with a bear

SHAELEM THE HUNTER

skins upon my back
rifle in my hand
and the rifle site
up against my eye
and though my shot is clear
my finger on trigger the drip of skins is all that I can hear

forest is so quite
everything so white
nothing moves at all
cept that bear so bold
he moves across the ice
when something half his size
would never go walking on ice so thin

then a memory
comes flooding back to me
last time I saw a bear
was on the day I left
I floated on a tree
right into the city
for days I lived on all that I could drink

the closer that I got
to that metropolis
the water got to stink
so I could not drink
and when I came to rest
on a concrete edge
I stood in awe and horror of it all

so for food and drink
I plundered all their bins
cos every fish I caught
was covered in sores
and when I finally begged
for a chunk of bread
what they tossed into my lap instead

was a coin of gold
so from that day on
I held out my palm
and they flicked their charms
but never did I spend
those pills of corruption
I'd pay one day a boat to take me home

so through my fingers ran
my time yet I would catch
the coins just like the bends
catch the rivers dead
and with the coins my shame
grew until one day
I hauled that weight down to the river bank

now I'm filled with rage
thinking of those days
I've lived like a whore
to my weakest core
and why should I stop now
I'll shoot out all my bile
while crimson grows beneath me in the snow

BEAR

It was years until the winter got so cold
That the surface of the river froze
It lay so still you'd swear it was asleep
Yet swift dark water moved beneath
The animals were fooled and ran their best
Across the ice till one was left
A bear who knew his size and had to wait
Until his friends has reached the other bank
And when they turned and saw him looking poorly
They thought he was scared and beckoned warmly
But he just stood there as if made of stone
They couldn't hear his little moans
Then he slowly turned and walked away
And made like he wanted to stay

And he wandered all alone
Thinking all about his home
And the forest seemed to grow
With a fear he'd never known

And when he felt it safe he wandered back
And stood for a while on that bank
And seeing that his friends had gone on home
He stepped out on the ice all alone
Coz more than fear of death he could not bare
Never seeing his home or friends again
But they were still there on the other side
The falling snow had turned them white

And he got half way across
Before the ice just opened up
And in a second he was gone
Just like he'd never been at all

It was minutes till they realized he was gone
But still they waited coz the bear was strong
They'd seen him tear down fences and a barn
He'd even killed a man who'd had a gun
just like the sun comes back around
He'd poke his head up any minute now

And so they waited all on through the night And still they hadn't moved when it got light
And winter slowly melted into spring
Showing little bones where the animals had been

HUNTERS REMORSE

He was skin and bone
Thats why it held so long
Filthy was his fur
I could see it was no good
Yet I was going to shoot

Footsteps very slow
Head was held so low
Trigger of my gun
Began to click and wind
His eyes were both shut tight

Why did he walk on
a sheet of ice so young
He was trying to get back home
He was trying not to run
Just like I have done
Since I began to roam

I AM DEAD

I am dead
I lie on, the muddy river bed
My life gone
You’re lucky, yours only just begun
It was good
I love you, I hope you find your road
Fish pick me
Of my flesh, my bones will soon be free
River strong
It lifts me
So gently, my journey’s not yet done

SHAELEM LOVES THE BIRD

The lighthouse keeper
Steps out into the icy wind
He was looking for her
She would always be there
Every morning

He kept a feather
On his jacket pocket
Pinned he wore it every day

RAT AND RABBIT

One cool morning
While out walking
By the river’s edge

Rabbit’s father
And young sister
Who he’d never met

Daughter found them
Curled together
Two little skeletons

So her questions
And his lessons
Flowers between the bones

When she skitters
Father lingers
Strange look upon his face

After supper
She tells Mother
Eyes meet above her head
Daughter it’s time for bed

CLOSING

River on the rise
Moving up its sides
Swallowing the bones
Of the animals

Wind begins to blow
Filled with red and gold
Loosening the leaves
From the autumn trees

On the edge of cliff
Lighthouse keeper lifts
Body to the breeze
Carries her to sea