Meet The Sloth

Painted gold, and looking old, the ornament sat on the counter

Fingers cold and sinking souled, the woman was biting her nails

Granny said, it'd keep them fed, this mysterious family heirloom

But he shook his head, said "maybe $10?", the man at the second hand store

She stormed outside scratching her skin, cursing her nan on her dad's side

Pictured her wrinkly grin, and threw the thing in the bin

Her little kid (let's call him "syd") woke up the next morning for breakfast

Pulled up the lid of the kitchen bin, and saw what his mother threw out

He pulled it out, and wiped it down, didn't even finish his cereal

A little mount just popped right out, and out fell a tied up old scroll

A picture of a moss-covered cave

And syd just made out the inscription

To them that are seeking the gold must be prepared to

Meet the sloth at midnight - here by the rocks

Meet the sloth at twelve o'clock on the dot

But if he's late, don't blame him

He'll be busy measuring the very approximate distance

He bellowed out "I'm going out!" and put on his big yellow jacket

Without a doubt, I'll save the house!

He followed the map on his bike

And look at him, just pedalling & ferociously head for the mountains

With bleeding shin and dribbled chin, onward and upward he rode

They’d have nowhere else they could live

And ma wasn't great with finances

The man from the council, would give ‘em only 1 or 2 more months

But he met a swamp, he had to stop. His bike would no way make it over

And through the fog he saw the spot - the cave the map had detailed

Too many rocks, no way to cross - at least not that he was aware of

At a loss, the chilly frost blue’d up the poor lad’s lips and face

Consulting the map one more time, smoothing his hand o’er the wrinkles

He scratched off the dirt and the grime, there underneath said -

Meet the sloth and wait right there by the swamp

Wait for sloth to journey down from the top

Let him guide you, follow him

Trust in his permanent grin

On the rock, patiently waiting for the 3 toed one to come

He sat and watched out there for hours

Was half-expecting him to crawl out from the black disgusting cave

When there he hung

And slowly down he climbed from the cecropia tree that hung overhead

So gently so

With a giant calming smile, he greeted syd and handed him some leaves

The kid politely tried to eat

With outstretched arms, he motioned the direction the two of them should head

Syd followed up

Hmm hmm hmm

[It is said that the spirits of the forest keep track of every life]

Time would go, and wrinkles showed the journey, it just took forever

20 Years? 30 years? Who knew exactly how long?

And as you know, sloths are slow, and they only get older and slower

He felt done wrong, but before long, was hit with epiphany

Blissfully inhaled the breeze, and opened up to his surroundings

Took one more mouthful of leaves, and he just carried on

Syd too was old, and all that gold, it no longer seemed to matter

It’d been so long, his mother's gone, surely she died by now

Not alone, he felt at home, at one with the forest and creatures

The sloth he smiled (he always smiled) laid down in the flora and passed

The moths flew and fell from his fur, now a meal for a family of pumas

And syd would not dare interfere with the fate of his friend

Leave the sloth behind and keep heading north

Leave the sloth alone and keep going forth

Followed blind, but found your way

The gold still sits there to this day

In that gross moss-covered cave