The magic stone

 The stone lay there on the burnt hillside

She was the only survivor of the fire tide

And this was a magic stone

That had been enchanted by a witch

Who laid it there after her lover died

And it gave all love to those who touched it

The magic passed on as it went

It was turned over and over again

Its painted runes and images

Left it up turned and faced

Picked up and dropped by passers by

Who inspected it and said the words to themselves

In a half sleepy, half enchanted manner

And then forgot what they were doing

And dropped the stone back

on the side of the path

And in that way the stone got all its words out

It was being picked up and passed on from hand to hand

palm to palm and left back in the grass for hours or days sometimes

Over night the snails crawled over it or birds landed on it

And pecked their beaks against it

But it remained a stone, a magic stone

Til one day the witch returned to reclaim it

She took it up in the middle of the night 

Under an oak tree and wept for her long lost lover whom she

knew not where he was but was off adventuring some place

And all the people who had touched the stone passed on

and talked to another

And somehow they passed this magical story on

As they spoke or shook hands with others

There was the look in the eye as if something passed between them

Something unknown and unspoken

Yet still there was a feeling and this sense

That they were searching out this unknown man

and his whereabouts - Have you seen him?

Their look seemed to ask

Though it was so quick that not much could be done

Yet even though it was quick it passed on to the next

and then the next, and then the next in succession

Until handshakes all around the world were shook

And greetings and meeting eyes exchanged their glances

Until at last one of the handshakes shook the hand of the missing man

The missing lover

He was a great northpole explorer who had given up his hiking shoes

To return to life in Cambodia

He was fishing now on the sea

And he shook hands with a traveller from America

It seemed

Who had frequented the bar where he dropped in

On the beach side

Called the Cambodia Inn

And he laughed to see him there

And he shook his long black hair

And the black cats stared at him

As black cats do, who know that

Witches wishes come true

And they are wise in their ways, 

and in their treading paths

And they say this Cambodian cat can see

with two eyes in to the Siamese sunrise

And the fisherman now who was really the long lost lover

Looked into the eyes of the man who said

Have you seen him?

Seen who he asked outright

Seen the witch's missing lover

The witch's missing lover it rang a bell

That once he had loved a woman

and had fallen under her spell

long, long ago, and he could tell

That this was perhaps the very same woman

Yes he said it is I, I did not realise she was a witch

I did not realise what I had lost when I did switch

Somehow I betrayed her love to leave for my own adventuring life

For I wished to reach the Northpole and to explore many regions of the

world unknown

I wished for fame and glory and yet it cost my soul

Well the witch wants you back

Said the American

The witch wants me back?! How could I , how can I go back now?

And yes he said well what will you do now?

But before he asked the question,

He knew he must find the witch

Or that the witch now knew his whereabouts

For she had enchanted the stone

And somehow this news would travel back

Through all the black cats she had known in the past

Through their eyes and their looks

And their walks upon the wall

And they would come back and deliver her

Her lover and all, deliver her lover and all

So gradually when the American left the explorer

Whose name was Nathan

He passed back and saw the people in his hotel

And they said who have you seen?

I've seen the lover, the long lost lover. 

And he passed this news on with a shake of the hand

and a look of his eye to his other travelling companions

and they went their separate ways

And both shook and looked and took and gave

Their glances and

took their chances and had romances

all the way to France's shores from Cambodia

All across the Asian continent

All across the Russian Steps and up into the Scottish Highlands

Where the magical stone slept

Until they touched the stone again

And it turned

it turned over on itself

And began to spin, and began to shine

And then began to bleed

Like a lonely heart into the soil

And turned it red

And when the witch was passing next

She saw around the stone that bled

The blood of the love that was lost

Her own blood for the stone 

Was her heart you see

And he saw her heart was bleeding

Under the oak tree on the hill

And she picked it up

And put it back inside her chest

And said

I'll keep the blood flowing through me

For my blood is blessed

And I'll show the way into the light

The light of loveliness

And so went, and so we went, and so

We went and we went

And the woman came back

And the man returned

For he had lost and he had learned

That losing love is like being burned

And soon he would know that hell hath no fury

Like a woman scorned

And so he came into the Isles

Of Britain with its smiles

And with opening arms, it welcomed him back

And sure enough the charms

They jacked and saw him off, and saw him in

On the boats where he sailed

Within

And said to them

Now what is this?

I am in search of the witch

Who cast a spell and I knew well

I found no log to slumber under

She asked me to return a while

And so I did, and so I did

And in the moon light the witch now

Flew upon her broom

And the wind that grew into a gale

and flew and flailed at her sides

But she held on for she was strong

And she threw, and she threw

love down there, and she threw it

in his hair

This dust that dropped

This magic pixie dust

that fell from the sky 

like starlight

And it landed upon the travelling man who was

wandering there without a plan

Except what the black cats told him

Which was to travel North

until it enfolds him in the clouds and the swirling sky

And above he felt the star dust lie

Upon his brow

Upon his head

He looked around and then he said

Is that you my long lost lover?

My witch queen who I discovered

Is that you who love ago told me

I her heart had stole

And that I would forgo the love

If I went my own way

She said yes it's me

Who you betrayed

And my heart it bleeds almost everyday

For it was stone but now its blood

And perhaps there is life after the flood

For tears have welled up and the rivers run dry

And perhaps the blood of life cannot die

And suddenly the love was given to him

And she flew like a bird on the wing

And picked him up

Upon her broom stick

And they sailed away 

into the moon's ocean play

As it rolled on through swirling clouds above

And they kissed in the sky

And they made love

As only a witch can do

On the fourth day of June

After a new moon

And Soon it will be

A midsummer's day

And you will still see them

Up there in play

The lovers swoon

Under the moon

They say

They say

Yes the lovers swoon 

Under the moon

They say