That town was called ‘Kaleidoscope’,
The cheeriest town in all the West,
Where travellers from all around,
Put down their anvils, lay to rest.
There was an inn with seven rooms,
That welcomed me inside its walls,
And offered me a meal or three,
With servants there to heed my calls,

And lay I down in my own room,
Upon my gold four-poster bed,
With thoughts of walking in my legs,
But dreams of laughing in my head.
That evening, in the banquet hall,
They celebrated in my honour,
And all the townsfolk joined as one,
To congratulate my valour.

The head of town, named ‘Blow-me-Down’
- A man of size, seven feet tall -
Raised up his voice and said aloud:
“We love to meet you, each and all.
My daughter wants to be your wife,
Whilst my wife says she wants that too!
Everybody feels so proud,
There’s just one thing we’ll say to you:”

Then the people of that town,
Did all hold hands and, heads held high,
They started singing me a song,
With words so sad, more like a cry:
“Oh traveller we need you badly,
For we have lived life oh so sadly,
For people come here night and daily,
We take them in to live here gladly,

“But in the morning leave they quickly,
Some half-dying, others sickly,
With vomit stains all down their shirts,
And yelling loudly, ‘Help me, help me’.
So they leave us as they came,
And all of us here feel so lonely,
But when we heard your footsteps coming,
Said we all: ‘We’ll make him homely’”.

In my awe, I fast replied:
“I’ll stay the night, I won’t get sick,
My health is good as any man’s,
I will not leave this town so quick”,
And so I to my bed retired
And slept for many hours and more,
But I awoke within some vomit,
Head in bucket on the floor.

My eyes were spinning slowly round,
And my feet were tired and twisted,
With sweat bleeding from each pore,
I wished to leave but the town had insisted
In their longing that I should not go.
I had heard their women cry,
For they thought me as their friend
- Their friend who felt like he would die.

I lay there scared, in a pool of despair,
For I had found a place to be,
A home to stay, and many friends
Who felt now more like family.
I dragged myself from out the room,
But blood was pouring out my ears,
And from my mouth and nose as well,
It mingled with my puke and tears.

As I staggered to the street,
All the people came outside,
And screamed in desperation, loud,
“Our friend it seems will soon have died”.
And so from that town fast I left,
Fearing for my very life,
Deserting all the friends I’d met,
The woman who would be my wife.

With anvil on my back again,
I walked back to the forest, grey,
And back into my old routine
Of walking, walking, day and day.
‘Kaleidoscope’, that town was called,
The only place that I call home,
And now it comforts all my dreams,
As nightly sleep I, all alone.


© 2001 Matt Everett