Moondog Monologue

"no matter where i came from," i say,
"no matter where i go
to me, what matters is where i am on this day"

let me identify myself now
songsters both, and both clad in brown
the hermit thrush and i dwell far out of town

death, when you come to me, may you come to me swiftly
i would rather not linger
not linger

driving with herr doktor one day, for the air,
he would circle the square before he taught me how to square the very same circle

you were opportunist in the worst way
therefore, i pray, let it pay for you to know me

i do not dress as i do to attract attention
i attract attention because i dress as i do

you, the vandal, plunder the village as you will.
the earthworm will pillage you, the vandal, when you are under

i would bow down before just one--
one who bows before none.
i should know who that one might be who could do that to me
i am that one
and i bow down before me

since the hunter is the hunted, surely he knows what it is to lift an ecsatic dread
to some uncoming hunter's tread

such and such as the star that filters through the starry blue alone
a burning star turning in an orbit all of its own
such and such as i

beasts are always/were always trailblazing engineers
modern engineering would do well to do as well today
as well as beasts have done

if on this rock i stand alone
loneliness will turn heel, as he turns to stone

each today is yesterday's tomorrow, which is now
now is all i have
now is all i need
now is all i want
now

better i go, when you would that i stay, that i stay on,
than stay, when you would that i would go
better i go than stay

ebb and flow of the ocean
love and hate of emotion
nothing lasts, is my refrain
as the moon and my feelings wax and wane
i remain calm.

i would adjust everything until i fell
and will adjust nothing
then, worming up pathway, i found with pleasure:
i was just something.

standing at the door of my departure
i observe that your eyes belie all that you have said
for you are still in love with me

then, when recognition comes,
you will take my muse,
take her to his bed of ease
have his will, have his fill,
and strangle her.

my tiny butterfly butters my bread
my briny flutterby keeps me well-fed
why should i mutter?

stung by this last rebuff, i rebound.
on the way back, i hear me saying to myself:
"dwell in your shell"

one thing about life, be it said:
it feeds upon itself over and over
and of itself, is fed.

should i love you as i love myself?
suppose i hate myself.
i would be as free to hate you too

i am never quite educated, never quite so
but i am ever in the painful process of becoming so

you remember me and my song.
only such immortaliity strikes creative sparks from my soul
because of you

who could wear out their welcome there
when there is no welcome there to wear out?
"there is where it is: here on earth."

"i would advise you not to generalize, as a rule."
(a fool to be: i have just uttered a generalization.
ah, me.)

down is up, and so up is down
because the world is round
there is no such thing as up or down

this one wish is ever so near to my heart
but oh so far away from my tongue

sadness was so mixed with gladness
that she wept for joy
she was so sad
tears filled her eyes but enhanced a smile on her face
she was so glad

think of all of the thoughts that i think
they are naught to me, compared to just one fleeting thought of you

how could i fear for my last day,
when i am dying daily?
and have been since my first day?

thus the clown wore cap and gown
for she lived for degrees while she died by degrees,
with a frown.

voices of spring were in chorus
each voice was singing a song
i could not