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
