Benjibopper

Woody Guthrie, a great Road Warrior, box-car law breaker
wondered who could guess the secret of the Sea
who am I to him, unknown poet
to not yet forgotten ghostly sage?
but I’ve heard a story perhaps Woody missed
of a Sultan, a goddess, and me

My wedding story is borrowed from the ocean’s blue
a brand new tale of a timeless age
The goddess has secrets unbeknownst to mortal human
of murky clarity hidden plainly but deeply
written on no dry page
but in a dotted land of mystics and charity
is spun an ancient story of love and glee
where honest people make minimal wages
the tale of a man privy to such secrets
of life and adventure unimaginable to we

His wife the sea goddess holds him in her cage
but once a month at the full of the moon
she paints the Sultan her mermaid cartoon
She collects from the shore her funny prince
a tourist of the sea
the would be King of a magical land
reduced to this impotent rage
but what fascination must lie in his eyes
before he’s returned to the place that is dry
and hailed as King is this former buffoon

The secrets he holds he does so close
he tells us only what not to wear to the sea
this alone is what makes him a sage
and gives him his historical page
his secrets of the sea
but I’ll tell you this one I overheard
from a talkative royal loon
were the Sultan a President of the United States
his secret would tell like this:
we spend more on searching for phony skies
than understanding what we see
with our own naked eyes

Perhaps this is the secret of the sea



[I wrote that in 2000 while I was in Yogyakarta, Java, Indonesia. It was inspired by this song and stories I learned in this place and things I read about this place. Hard to believe it was seven years ago.]

Labels: 2000, Indonesia, philosophy, Poetry