Of Cabbages

Leslie Fish

Compositor: Heather Alexander / Leslie Fish / Mercedes Lackey / Mercedes Lackey; Heather Alexander; Leslie Fish

I've always been a farmer and
My heart's bound to the land
The earth's deep roots, are in me blood
She answers to my hand

I grow the best damned cabbages
You ever hope to see
And once upon a Moon struck night
I watched the dancing sidhe

Their music came before them
And it pulled me from me bed
It flowed like cool wine on the breeze
And got inside me head

It made me drunk and sober both
It made me sing and cry
It made me want to weep and dance
And dream that I could fly

And then their voices, caroling
Like bells, like birds, like rain
In words I almost understood
In joy too near to pain

The songs were like the ones you hear
In dreams but can't recall
That fill your mind in slumber
But with dawn you lose it all

And then they came so wondrous bright
So quite beyond compare
With star-shine in their eyes
And silver roses in their hair

Wrapped with an aching beauty
Sweet and bitter, crystal light
A beauty that ya' fear to see
But fear to lose the sight

I saw them at their dancing
Leaping air and silver flame
And conscious, all too conscious
Of my clumsy mortal frame

I watched them at their dancing
Life light footed, full of grace
With my legs of wood and feet of lead
Stood rooted in me place

I am a farmer bound to earth
I know what I do well
I'm mortal and I'm common
Like the cabbages I sell

There's virtue in a cabbage
Even elves eat, I suppose
But once just once, I wish that I
Could grow a silver rose