Ivy

When I used to live here as a poacher of men
The ivy made a moustache round the door
Now that the people have all disappeared
There is only left the faint impression of a cube in leaves

Tendrils surging up
Ahhhh-ahhhhhh-ahhhh
Overflowing cup

I instructed my boy in the art of dressing game
And gave him my granddad's knife on the day he became a man
And watched from the kitchen window as he was swallowed by thе trees
I kept a vigil for a month before I madе a fire of his hissing clothes

Tendrils surging up
Ahhhh-ahhhhhh-ahhhh
Overflowing cup

He sought passage aboard a ship bound for Naxos
But they altered the course to sell him as a slave
He filled their ears with the sound of a thousand reeds
Which drove them out of their minds and into the sea
The black beams of the deck ooze wine
And the mast turns to a vine

To Ikarios taught the secret of winemaking
But the drunk shepherds thought poisoned they had been
So they stoned him to death
In plain view of his daughter
Who threw her dog down a well
And hung herself from a tree
A god overwhelmed with sorrow
Paints his friend among the stars

His own cousin refused to recognise his power
Thus the menfolk of Athens were rendered impotent
Pentheus himself was torn
Limb from limb by his own mother
Good wine needs no bush

He reluctantly granted the wish of a greedy king
That everything he touched would turn to gold;
An oak twig, a pebble, a beetle
As the world around him turned to stone, the king was quite delighted
He very soon realised the error of his choice
A roll of bread turned to a nugget in his hand
The petals of his flower petrified falling scentless
Reaching out to hold his daughter,
he recoiled in horror as she froze in his embrace

Tendrils surging up
Ahhhh-ahhhhhh-ahhhh
Overflowing cup

On a panther he rides out to the underworld
In his fist held aloft a fennel wand
Seeking to extricate his mother
From the torments of fate's flame

Tendrils surging up
Ahhhh-ahhhhhh-ahhhh
Overflowing cup