Now I have climbed the mountain high
And struggled there to touch the sky
I dreamt of visions I had seen
Somewhere above and in between
But all that time I found instead
These lofty thoughts lived in my head !
Now I have climbed the mountain high
And struggled there to touch the sky
I dreamt of visions I had seen
Somewhere above and in between
But all that time I found instead
These lofty thoughts lived in my head !
Long time ago, I remember well
There was a tale the old timers tell
Of a man who rode this way one day
Just passing through not meaning to stay
When a shy young beauty he did see
A sweet image for his fantasy.
Well the story goes, they got on great
While the rest of it was left to fate
The two young folks seemed to fall in love
Quite like the wish each was dreaming of
Remember when love has a good start
Most times it pays to follow the heart !
Oh sandman, sandman what shall we see
In tonight’s sleepy time fantasy
While each evening I prepare for bed
I pray I’ll have pleasant dreams ahead
If I’m honest I cannot recall
Any of my dreams of old at all
They seemed to disappear ere came dawn
And by waking time they were all gone !
Oh how I wish that I might spy
A comet streaking cross the sky
Or sight a rainbow shining through
When clouds appear misted with dew.
I want to know which way to go
As evening stars commence their show
Or what it takes to reach the moon
By rocket ship or space balloon.
How wonderful this world would be
If seen with eyes of fantasy !
Oh how I wish that I could be
Those candy canes upon each tree
All shiny and so red and white
Delicious tasting, bite by bite.
While peppermint is full of zest
Let’s put each flavor to the test
I’m sure that chocolate is great
For other celebration dates.
Since Christmas comes but once a year
A time of joy, a time of cheer
I’d like to think that you and I
Will share these pleasures by and by !
I’d like to be a shiny fish in life’s great big sea
I’d splash and swim all around my seaside fantasy
I’d nibble at the feast with tuna or some cod
Who knows, because I might digest scraps that they discard
Oh how much fun it would be to travel in their stream
And realise even I may share a mermaid’s dream !
My thoughts do turn to silly things
Like hugs and kisses and brass rings
Like elephants and tiger eyes
A world chock full of wild surprise
A heart that’s packed with joy and peace
And music that will never cease.
Ballet shoes made of satin white
That keep on dancing through the night,
The love of God and angels sweet
Who choose to walk with unclad feet
Chocolates and marshmallows too
To help our sweetest dreams come true !
I look around what do I see
A world that’s built on fantasy
It’s all about the vampire’s touch
Super heroes, witches and such.
While Spiderman or rich Bruce Wayne
Are concepts both wild and insane
Star Wars, Aliens and Doctor Who
Bewitched, Bedazzled, through and through.
I find my world is quite enough
I’m not yet ready for this stuff
I fear for what may be in store
Seems true, nothing’s real any more !
Oh Cinderella are you still there
Is that you hiding beneath the stair
I’m sorry if your life went awry
I know you’ll give it another try
There’s a lesson I have learned from you
To myself I shall remain true blue.
And when my back is against the wall
I won’t be shy I will make that call
One-eight-hundred fairy A-I-D
Won’t you please come and help set me free
I’ve been a grownup for far too long
It’s time I chose to just tag-along !
Lions and tigers in a row
And when they move where do they go
Into the jungles of the mind
Midst fantasies we yearn to find.
Camels and horses are there too
Waiting faithful for me and you
With rainbowed colors they all wear
In their wild flowing sculpted hair.
Seems right for us to ride away
When organ music pipes to play
As round in circles we must go
Until it’s time for life’s next show !
Have you ever seen a mermaid when you’ve been out to sea
I’m sure that I have not nor anyone that’s known to me
Seems mermaids were a help to men at least a thousand years
There is a place on the Rhine I’ve been told that one appears,
Unlike the Disney creatures who know all the rights from wrongs,
The sailors call them Lorelei they sing enchanted songs.
Like Homer’s Sirens tempted those from Troy who homeward bound
Did flounder on the rocks about on hearing their sweet sound,
I’m sad that I might have to spend another thousand years
To hear a mermaid chant her song into my waiting ears !
Flying carpets where have you gone
I need a rug to ride upon
Perhaps a shell like Venus had
Or dolphin’s back, like Alan Ladd.
We should recall those olden days
When fantasy was all the rage
And films and books and fables old
Like fairy tales were stories told.
Today the truth is all we’ve got
Accepting that, I’d rather not
While Ali Baba was his name
Those forty thieves brought him his fame
Arabia was mystic too
I liked it then, well didn’t you ?
Today tis sad, this world to think
It seems we’ve reached the final brink
There’s no time left for let’s pretend
The world we knew has met its end !
I’d like to think that there might be
A creature known as snow fairy
With streaming silver hair aglow
That blows and flows mid winter snow
And sails the clouds above the wind
Where storms and flurries do begin !
While frost that edges all around
And permeates most of the ground
Can have no mercy till the spring
When warming winds do comfort bring !
I must admit that I’ve not seen
Some cold and heartless icy queen
Clad in her cloak of ermine hue
It is no sight I’m psyched to view !
Along the shore the seashell hides
It’s tossed about by feckless tides
There polished by the caustic sands
To fit into small childish hands,
And with each one they will dream on
Imagining some marathon
Of voyages across the seas
In their shell crafts upon the breeze.
Oh what a tale adventure spells
And how much joy the journey tells
As children dream while magic spins
Their seashell ride into the winds !
I wish I were a lily pond
With fronds so large frogs sun upon
Where bees that buzz and zap about
Do forage there to find a spout
Of honey dip where they may sup
Like queens who nip from golden cup.
Or fragile birds who’ll take a sip
And clean themselves or have a dip
Like magic faun who deign to hide
From human eye by waterside,
Oh such sweet paradise is there
Let’s all rejoice and choose to share !
The trouble with us all I think
Is that we’re standing on the brink
Perched above precariously
Without knowledge of history.
Those stories that we have been told
Are simply that, just tales of old
Sometimes I find myself entranced
With mysticism so enhanced !
Oh how I wish that I’d been there
When Rapunzel let down her hair,
Or hiding in the robber’s cave
Where Ali Baba was a knave.
Now Cinderella had it hard
To clean that house and tend the yard
Or do you think Snow White had worse
With all those dwarfs and witch’s curse ?
Today I find the world’s not changed
Some tales I hear are quite deranged
The problem is we’re told they’re true
What do you think, it’s up to you ?
Once was I thought that I would be
Some heroine in history
One must be brave and noble too
With sacrifice for quite a few !
It took so long to understand
That life’s not always great or grand
And sometimes it just pays to be
A simple sort with piety !
It’s strange the way dreams disappear
To leave us all quite baffled here
How much more fun if we could be
Included in God’s next story !
In the hours before the breaking of dawn
The time when stars take a moment to yawn
Just before the sun rises o’er the hill
The leaves in the trees are ever so still.
It’s the quiet that sighs passing us by
Leaving us wishing we knew how to fly
The clouds in the sky seem to beckon me
Calling my name just as though I were free.
My freedom has strings you know what that means
The one place to fly is left in my dreams !
Oh Romeo, Romeo where have you gone
Seems there’s no love left to wish upon
Romance has fled its fate is unknown
While its happiness has all but flown.
Does this mean we’ve lost our chance at love
What hope is left to be dreaming of ?
You’ll text and tweet and speak on the phone
Yet after this you’re still home alone
The instant has passed and gone astray
You’ll have to wait for another day.
Would you rather live without surprise
Or find passion deep in someones eyes ?
You really don’t have a choice you’ll see
Finding love appears lost fantasy !
While chiding thus I know my will
To live and have my life fair full
Man cannot reach the world beyond
Until he’s served his turn here on
And serving still that he may know
What fortune be before he’ll go
To sup upon Olymphia’s heights
And dwell amidst Elysian nights
So be it that untutored man
Shall feast among the days of Pan
There frolic in Calypsos glow
When God alone shall deem it so
Light be the reach of the heavens as I strive to touch some eternal place
Let me find the quarters of the gods let me bask in the warmth of their fates
Let me dream of their nectar a sacred ambrosia with delicate taste
Give me leave to pursue the immortal and gaze on their heavenly gates.
Permit me to stroll in their pastures free with hope to entwine in their grace
What I seek is sought after with peace in my heart and a smile on my face.
Life has been far more than full may its cup abound forever in this state
Of pleasure and laughter I need ought more than an occasional taste
To sustain the desire for living in this simple gracious human race,
Thus having dwelt among the gods let me return to outer mortal space
And so resign myself to that one fact which either cannot change nor pace
That life as it exists is for the living there’s not one small bit to waste.
Ah that I might fly with the wings of freedom into the light of the sun
Nevermore to return again to the deepest dark of the realm unknown
To fly as with the fleetest wings of an angel untethered and unstrung
Swiftly straight as the line of an arrow with its purpose as deadly clung.
Mild be the wind that wafts me to the end my journey thus over and done
Let there be none to feel the loss or question why once after I’ve begun
Be it done in the silent midst of their slumber far long before their sun
Rises in the shadowed sky to awake the ungodly din which could come
Soon in the wake of my dangerous flight as all regrets and hopes are flung
To the nymphs of the heavens above in the thunder of their cries belong
The tears of the ungodly and the damned the pittance of their grief now gone
To serve another master and seek another world whence to dwell upon.
Innocent mermaid with her seaweed hair
As she suns herself in the salty air
On a spacious rock that hides with the tide
She sings a lilt that wells up from inside
And thinks of her life that will never change
Because the ocean’s the depth of her range,
Poor mermaid at sea with no future dream
A victim of fates impossible scheme.
I have built myself a fortress not made of mortar and stone
Its windows draped in make- believe, doorposts hung with hope unflown.
I’ll dwell in this castle forever that’s built aside a hill
To blanket those sounds of reality lingering cold and chill.
The walls are painted with laughter as mellow as morning light
And the floors are set with marble in various moods of bright.
I’ve cushioned each lonely settle with pillows that sing out loud
And brought in a bit of heaven that rests above like a cloud,
I’ve garnered inside with flowers to bring the outdoors within
Assured when the winds of time blow bold my sunshine will begin.
Each room has a view of a garden with pine trees ever tall
Shutters to bar the sight of the things I refuse to recall.
I may bide in this place till never, safe from the outside pain
Like a child in storybook fashion who yearns to try again.