4.50 AM (Go Fishing)

As cars go by I cast my mind's eye

Over back packs on roof racks

Beyond the horizon

Where dream makers

Working white plastic processors

Invite the unwary

To reach for the pie in the sky

Go fishing my boy!

We set out in the spring

With a trunk full of books about everything

About solar devices

And how nice natural childbirth is

We cut down some trees

And we trailed our ideals

Through the forest glade

We dammed up the stream

And the kids cooled their heels

In the fishing pool we'd made

We held hands and we exchanged bands

And we practically lived off the land

You adopted a fox cub

Whose mother was somebody's coat

You fed him by hand

And then snuggled him down

In the grandfather bed while I wrote

We grew our own maize

And I only occasionally went into town

To stock up on antibiotics

And shells for the shotgun that I kept around

I told the kids stories

While you worked your loom

And the sun went down sooner each day.

*Chapter six in which Eeyore has a birthday

And gets two presents

Daddy...come on dad

Eeyore the old grey donkey stood by the side

Of the stream and he looked at himself in the water

"Pathetic" he said, "That's what it is"

"Good morning Eeyore" said Pooh

"Oh" said Pooh, He thought for a long time

The leaves all fell down

Our crops all turned brown

It was over

As the first snowflakes fell

I realised all was not well in the camp

The kids caught bronchitis

The space heater ran out of diesel

One weekend a friend from the East

Rot his soul

Stole your heard

I said "Fuck it then

Take the kids back to town

Maybe I'll see you around"

And so...leaving all our hopes and dreams

To the wind and the rain

Taking only our stash

Left our litter and trash

And set out on the road again

On the road again

Bye Bye Daddy, Bye Daddy

You can bring Pearl she's a darn nice girl

But don't bring Liza