Impromptu Symphony/ Castles in Quicksand

Momma never had so much
But her high hopes in me
"A plum can only plummet
Just so far from a tree
So take this old harmonica
That cost dad one penny
And may you play upon it
An impromptu symphony"

An impromptu symphony
Is easy to compose
It's just the wind a whistlin
Through holes in your clothes

I'se kicked out of the circus
A 'red light' for wretched me
I sat down there upon the rail
And played my symphony
Along came a locomotive
With a belching black smokestack
My harp met its demise
On that lonely stretch of track

My Impromptu Symphony
If you happen to enquire
Was written by the rails
As I sat on a flat tire

My flea circus was revolting
So I set the matter straight
I gave them each their own room
In a hotel with flat rates
It didn't cost an arm and leg
And served them all quite well
They lived happily ever after
In my "Crushed Harmonica Hotel"

An Impromptu Symphony
Ain't hard for you to play
Just fill your head with pipedreams
And blow them all away

© 2004 Stefan des Lauriers
-->

THE IMAGINARY RAINBOW

Milton was a chameleon who was always the right color at the wrong time. When he saw others changing to vibrant colors he'd turn green with envy. Green was not a cool color for a chameleon.

At school he brought an apple to the teacher and the boys teased him for being brown from tail to nose. Brown was not a cool color for a chameleon.

Being teased for turning brown was embarrassing for Milton. He turned bright red. Red was not a cool color for a chameleon.

After school some boys waited to tease him more and he turned yellow and ran. Yellow is the most un-cool color for a chameleon.

When Milton came home his mother noticed that he was pale. 'What happened,' she asked. 'Looks like you lost all your color.' Reluctantly he explained.

Milton's father was not a diplomat. He blurted out, 'You must blend in with the crowd. If you are like everyone else everyone will like you.'

Later, when Milton's mother was tucking him under a rock she spoke kindly to him. 'If all you have in life is one friend, then your life will have meant something. You need to be true blue to be a friend.'

Milton thought about what his mother once told him about the sky—that its shade was 'true blue.’

Milton fell asleep thinking of blue. Blue must be the coolest color for a chameleon. But why would a chameleon want to be blue, he mused, to hide himself from an ant?

The next day Milton looked up at the sky and thought about the color blue... A white fluffy cloud floated by, and he tried to mimic it with a little white patch drifting across his skin.

Milton managed this, hut then the cloud turned dark and it started to rain. Daydreaming on the rock, Milton made the cloud turn darker with grey strings of rain pouring down from a little patch of grey over his mostly blue skin. 'This is really cool' he thought to himself.

The sun came out and made the most spectacular rainbow ever. 'My gosh,’ thought Milton, 'Imagine how popular I'd be if I could take on the colors of a rainbow?'

He saw a big spoon and a spool of thread that someone had thrown away. 'Humans,' he thought, they're such lifter-bugs.' He balanced the spoon on the spool and had a squirrel help him by dropping a stone from a tall tree. Sitting in the curve of the spoon, Milton was sent high in the heavens when the stone hit the handle.

Our little chameleon flew right where the arc of the rainbow had been. But when he was sailing through the mist he saw no colors. He had imagined turning red orange yellow green blue indigo and violet— but the rain was crystal clear. When he looked towards the sun each drop shone like a jewel, 'Now these are the coolest colors for a...’

Splat. Milton had been so caught up looking at raindrops that he forgot that he was heading for the ground. Fortunately he landed in a haystack.

Milton soon became the life of the party- He would invite the squirrel with the rock, the spool and the spoon and would shoot himself in the air turning colors into an imaginary rainbow. Lizards loved it; especially when he came down with a splat. Milton became popular, but he didn't have any friends.

Time passed. Our hero became old and could only match the color grey. No one wanted to see a grey rainbow, so he stopped his silly stunts. All he did was sit upon the spool beside the squirrel on the spoon. They would talk and talk about the good old days. The squirrel never tired of hearing the same old story and Milton never tired of hearing it echoed back. Well it wasn't what his parents had in mind, but after all Milton did end up having one friend.

© 1993 Stefan des Lauriers

CASTLES IN QUICKSAND

Come gather young architects wherever you Rome
If you're planning to build a home in a day
Before you start digging please heed this call
And listen to the insightful tidbits I say

For sometimes even Rocket Scientists don't understand
It ain't cool to build Castles in Quicksand

Some people build mansions on top of molehills
Some have digs in doghouses down in the dumps
Some inhabit volcanic Villas some Coup de Villes
Some are content with a tent and sit on a stump

Some inhabit structures built over a sinkhole
Some raise their card house right on a fault line
Some look out from a palace on a sheer precipice
But very few build tree houses above the tree line

Some regret building their love nest in Love Canal
Some regret building a fortress on a flood plain
Some regret building an ice palace on an iceberg
When their dungeon melted and went down the drain

So if you build a glass house on a pile of stones
Remember to treat people a little sweeter
And don't put your wigwam on top of an anthill
Unless you happen to have a nice pet ant eater