going down the road
going down the road
a long line of singers
going down the road.

there is Rahkahtor,
the first singer,
first to tell the story
of the hunt. rhythm

he found and round
his fire the day's deeds
were sung to the beat
of a hollow log . . .

soon Rahkahtor didn't
hunt he just told the
deeds of the day to the
advantage of his host

a long line of singers
follow him down the road:
priest and prophets, charlatans
and fools, sinners and saints

all of them singers: telling the
stories of the day, singing
the events of the hunt with
the sound and sense of words.

minstrels and skalds, bards and
wordsmiths, poetasters and
troubadours-rhymers all
singing for their supper -

and a flagon of ale, or
stoup of sac. poets --
dreamers and schemers all -
going down the road.