As Wise as the Skywise

Woden - Allfather:

Mine's the might o'er all the mighty,

friend to friends, foe to foes be I known

Slouch-hat and Greybeard; names

among many as the shapes that I own

One eye lone adorn my features

thus limited be I in sight

Therefor fly my 'thought and memory'

fly the worlds - dark wings, dark night

Soaring in ethereal heavens,

sailing on the welkin high

Cast by omnipotent wingspans,

silhouettes against the sky

Travellers on threads transcendental,

Ebon, avian scouts, ravens fly!

Tho' born on high, airborne still higher

yet this journey's far to fare

Cease thus flight, rest as quills tire,

pause a moment when wings wear

'Neath caws and clamour his cause to fail;

a wide-eyed scarecrow stands

dumbfounded there

A guarding, tattered meadow man

how can he ever scare

birds of a celestial clan

Scarecrow:

What are these which chase the air

in raven-black, with eyes that glare,

who cloak in shape same midnights wear

Tell ye twain whence thee came

Whom with dark play hide and seek,

appear with feather, wing and beak

I know as such should not, yet speak

Come ye twae reveal thy names

Thought and Memory:

Eke many a word from what have

straw 'neath his hatbrims

Much like those in whose coat standeth clad

That which we are thou can't imagine

What beest thou tell instead

- Tatterdemalion!

Scarecrow:

To guard this field, white crops to yield

from birds like thee that fly,

of man I'm made, for man I work;

The scarecrow am I!

So spoke the scarecrow, pride-dyed

each word of his task momentous

and of the laudable man he served

thus much virtuos

Thought and Memory:

Little thou knowest o' simpleton

tho' perhaps much for such mind

We'll get thee of thy high horses, still

that a 'mare's nest' thou shalt find

This metewand with wich the midgardians

thou measure we severly gainsay

For they're worth but a farthing on our

tounges as thou art when speak they

Intelligent indeed they're growing,

faith blind on their brains they pin

Yet thinking be their undoing,

insanity is wisdoms kin

The one the other will devour,

(when the weaker lose the stronger win)

Sword and shield may suit their kind true,

gone beserk they wear a fit vest

But thought and thinking will dight undue,

up-hung that garb arrays the best

This naked ape's supremacy

be impertinent when undress'd

The animal within them all

upon their 'high-brow' quest

will finally be their fall

Scarecrow:

Be this fact these woeful words,

that thou speak, of which I've heard,

or falderal to taunt and gird?

The last I woo to be true

The man I serve, servant to be

that serves as model in turn to me,

be as claimed most impossibly

This too I pray shalleth be true

Thought and Memory:

Take our words and know their value

on the day when they show true

Remember then the wise whom skies flew

Who thou art and serve speak anew

- Tatterdemalion!

Scarecrow:

To guard this field, white crops to yield

from birds like thee that fly,

of man I'm made, for man I work;

The scarecrow am I!

As he hath spoken again will he speak

for as far as he e'er see;

Silly or stupid or narrow-minded

man can ne're be

Woden - Allfather:

A day will come yt augurs ill,

in this have I saying nor will

When wefts within the 'Web of Wyrd'

of twilight tell, long hath it near'd

Thou seest I'm sure by midgard hand

will be undone the midgard land

As ours and others furthermore

'till nothing be yt was before

Epilogue

Down at these meadows yet these day

stands our scarecrow ever so tall

Still in man is his faith tho' suspicion

is farish within him withall

Foolish or erudite is not for him

to decide yet he must agree

that as wise as the 'skywise'

man can never be

(He can never be)