The Ballad of Arthur Kaye - Part I

Arthur Kaye, he was born with the head of a goat
and cloven hooves where he should have had feet
They made the most unfortunate racket
whenever he ran down the street

A clitter and clatter, a clip and a clop,
all that noise was poor Arthur's sole sin
You knew if he were off to the pub or the shops
by the direction of his bloody great din

God forbid you'd ever hear the sound of his hoof
when you'd wake in the midst of the night
If ever he managed to get on your tin roof,
he could give you one hell of a fright

But our Arthur was given a heart made of gold
with a kind streak as wide as the Nile
He loved all the folks whether younguns or old
and he graced them all with his smile

He'd run errands for grannies stuck in their beds,
he'd give rides on his back to small boys
When a blind man needed a book to be read
there was Arthur turning pages with joy

The young ladies all loved the way that he'd flirt
when ever he had half a chance
With his horns and his hooves and a new gingham shirt
he made their eyes glow with thoughts of romance

Then one day to the town came a man with a book
it was ancient and bound in gold leather
He wore a black robe and a serious look
and he brought forth a change in the weather

He spoke of dark things, of creatures with wings
and portents of great evil to come
And he said that Arthur was the source of these things
and should be sent back to whence he had come

Now the townsfolk grew quiet and then, they grew fearful
at the grim proclamations he'd made
For he'd read from the book when he'd given the earful
and those words made them sorely afraid

He accused them of losing their belief in the book,
why else could that creature be here?
A mob quickly formed, as that was all that it took
to turn them against their own peer

Copyright © David Brown | Year Posted 2015

Please Login to post a comment