Ivy

When I used to live here as a poacher of men The ivy made a moustache round the door Now that the people have all disappeared There is only left the faint impression of a cube in leaves Tendrils surging up Ahhhh-ahhhhhh-ahhhh Overflowing cup I instructed my boy in the art of dressing game And gave him my granddad's knife on the day he became a man And watched from the kitchen window as he was swallowed by thе trees I kept a vigil for a month before I madе a fire of his hissing clothes Tendrils surging up Ahhhh-ahhhhhh-ahhhh Overflowing cup He sought passage aboard a ship bound for Naxos But they altered the course to sell him as a slave He filled their ears with the sound of a thousand reeds Which drove them out of their minds and into the sea The black beams of the deck ooze wine And the mast turns to a vine To Ikarios taught the secret of winemaking But the drunk shepherds thought poisoned they had been So they stoned him to death In plain view of his daughter Who threw her dog down a well And hung herself from a tree A god overwhelmed with sorrow Paints his friend among the stars His own cousin refused to recognise his power Thus the menfolk of Athens were rendered impotent Pentheus himself was torn Limb from limb by his own mother Good wine needs no bush He reluctantly granted the wish of a greedy king That everything he touched would turn to gold; An oak twig, a pebble, a beetle As the world around him turned to stone, the king was quite delighted He very soon realised the error of his choice A roll of bread turned to a nugget in his hand The petals of his flower petrified falling scentless Reaching out to hold his daughter, He recoiled in horror as she froze in his embrace Tendrils surging up Ahhhh-ahhhhhh-ahhhh Overflowing cup On a panther he rides out to the underworld In his fist held aloft a fennel wand Seeking to extricate his mother From the torments of fate's flame Tendrils surging up Ahhhh-ahhhhhh-ahhhh Overflowing cup