A travellers' song, celebrating the poplars that often shade parking places in Europe, the somewhat unsettling rustling of their leaves, the impermanence of the travelling life, an old dear live-in van now no longer rolling, and the way things move on but often retain ghosts and echoes of former times.
lyrics
Poplars
Tangle in the heart at the rustling of the leaves,
Sinister sibilants cackle in the breeze,
Restless home by the breathless road
Beneath a dappled poplar canopy.
Big mighty river, bursting at the banks,
Oasis, reservoir, kingfisher tanks,
Roadside rivulets, love's lingerland,
With a muffled poplar symphony.
Parked under poplars with their tittle-tattle rattle,
Not quite anywhere, not quite home.
Parked under poplars in a restless dream, in a travellers' tale .........
Till the cows come home.
Once a proud vessel in the ways of the world,
It's now many moons since this flag was unfurled.
Hotfoot kilometres and secrets revealed
Now hang in the poplar gallery.
Motionless, derelict, failing at the seams,
Repository of anecdote, memory and dream,
Echoes of our journeys whisper in the wheels,
Beneath a gossiping poplar canopy.
Passionate wanderlust, seekers' retreat,
Spellcharmed bubble, with itchy feet.
But autumn is coming now, we're harvesting the wheat
In this raggle-taggle journal of a song.
Cold winds are blowing, birds flying south,
Smoky breath blowing from the storyteller's mouth,
Mountains and rivers now just names in a game
And the poplars are tumbled to the ground.
Is this rambling over, restlessness stilled,
Homeland regained, curiosity filled?
There are hollows in the ground where there used to be wheels
And silence in the sky where there used to be a tree.
Sitting by the embers with their crickle-crackle shuffle,
Making maps in the ashes as the wood burns to thistledown.
Spinetingle shiver at the rustle in the apple, it's the ghost ........
Of the travellers' canopy.
Passionate wanderlust, seekers’ retreat,
Spellcharmed bubble, with itchy feet.
But autumn is coming now, we’re harvesting the wheat
In this raggle-taggle journal of a song.
credits
from Firegazing,
released September 17, 2017
Written by Brian Boothby.
Electric Guitar: Chris Ellis
Fiddle: Adam Summerhayes
Fretless Bass: Dave Sturt
Low Whistle, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals and Poplars Recording: Brian Boothby
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