Rome never looks where she treads.
Always her heavy hooves fall
On our stomachs, our hearts or our heads;
And Rome never heeds when we bawl.
Her sentries pass by and that's all,
And we gather behind them in hordes,
And plot to reconquer the Wall,
With only our tongues for our swords.
Chorus:
We are the Little Folk--we!
Too little to love or to hate.
But leave us alone and you'll see
How we can drag down the State!
We are the worm in the wood!
We are the rot at the root!
We are the taint in the blood!
We are the thorn in the foot!
Mistletoe killing an oak--
Rats gnawing cables in two--
Moths eating holes in a cloak--
How they must love what they do!
Yes--and we Little Folk too,
We are busy as they--
Working our works out of view--
Watch, and you'll see it some day!
Chorus
Although maybe we are not strong,
But we know Peoples that are.
Yes, and we'll guide them along
To smash and destroy you in War!
We shall be slaves just the same?
Yes, we have always been slaves,
But you--you will die of the shame,
And then we willl dance on your graves!
Chorus
~Original poem by Rudyard Kiplling
7 comments:
Fabulous! Did you write this? It's faerie through and through.
I'm a Pict too! My great-to-the-nth-degree grandmother (back in the early 800's) was a Pict from the House of Fortrenn. Great poem!
Songwriting credit goes to Joe Bethancourt of Phoenix, Arizona, I think. The link is to his production company,
"The Pict Song" is on his "Celtic Circle Dance" album, 1988.
Actually, I think the original poem was by Kipling. Not sure who turned it into a song, The art, Matrilineal, which I owned and then gave to DiL when she had G/Son, is by F. Lennox Campello.
Hecate,
You're right: Kipling, unacknowledged bard of the modern Pagan revival. I once thought that "Oak, Ash and Thorn" was an Ancient Pagan Survival, too, which is even more embarrassing.
The origin of "Oak, Ash, Thorn" is certainly Kipling, but he was clearly motivated by the Druidic Pantheon. This poem is another gem.
Yep, Kipling is the author, and the music is by Leslie Fish.
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