The Winged Boot Fitting Service from Jamie Coats (The Fitter)

At a bar met the Green Man
Who asks, “Like a word?”

“I am looking for Emmanuel,
Emma for short.”

“Go to my barn, take some lessons,
I’ve just the horse for you, Pegasus.

What a winged horse,
Asked for a barn right on the cliff edge

So he’d be able to leap straight into the air.
No, I said, erosion happens.

You’ll have a barn way back from the edge.
From the barn you can still see the sea.

I built the barn from the sacred tree,
The one on which he died.

At the barn take Pegasus out of his stall.
Groom his winter coat so fine,

Put some fluff in a can.
Pick up his feet, pick out his hooves,

Open his mouth, put in the bit
Bend his ears forward, reins over his head.

Saddle him up, check the girth again and again.
You don’t want to fall off up in the air.

Take time to be responsible,
Ride him around the paddock

Until he’s done his business.
I want no defecating from on high.

Then ride off the cliff edge,
To people’s surprise you’ll not fall to your death

But rise into the sky.
Now before you go

Come back to the bar.
Ask my friends each for a word,

A caterpillar one that crawls around inside
Eating up their lives.

Put the words in your can,
Shut the lid all cozy

They’ll turn into chrysali.
Then on Pegasus take off,

Straight into the storm sky
Ride ‘till the sun appears.

Then open that can
And butterflies will pour out

Leaving a rainbow trail
Arching color across the sky.

On your return tell your daughter
If she has a nightmare

She can snuck into his stall
And curl up under his wing.

You’ll find Emma, you’ll find her
You’ll find home, you’ll find us all, partner.

Know what grows, dies, returns.
Seasons and heartbeats understand.

Here’s to bars and barns
Places for you to be a Green Man.”

Theme for 2012

Jamie Coats February 2012