Feathertop from Congeries by Joseph Houck

And with these words
I breathe the spark of being
Upon my latest design
Dressed so neat
a pipe, a hat and feather,
And a coat so fine
And a coat so fine

Wooden arms start to animate
His pipe begins to glow a flame
He feels hunger he can’t satiate
He likes the fact he’s got a name

The papers show our newborn star
“Hay Man Sweeps the Countryside”
He stumps in cornfields near and far
With promises to change their lives

One day a wind comes and blows right through him
(His cares had long blown away)
And left him feeling
hollow, torn, and jumbled
So he had nothing left to say
Ah yes, he threw it all away

Blind seers exposing the lies
They hate to say they told you so
“Couldn’t we see through the disguise?”
“He’s nothing but a scare-crow!”

In dried-up cornfields near and far
Now the crows do as they please
The papers show our fallen star,
Riots burning effigies

An instant heap of sticks and straw
Has left a sense of innocence
Perhaps more human than us all--
This paragon of emptiness

The papers show our risen star
Lit up on holy funeral pyre
An elegy called “Straw Martyr”
Is carved into his sepulchre

And with these words
I breathe the spark of being
Upon my latest design
Dressed so neat:
a pipe, a hat and feather,
And a coat so fine
And a coat so fine

• Americana
• Folk
• folk rock
• singer-songwriter
• Boone