The rascal sets out for the tree
That holds a secret in its trunk
Which when axed out by his wiry body
Reveals the hopes that a departed friend sunk
Into the dream of getting the girl to notice him,
By throwing apples so rotten
Into a basket too thin.

The friend worked his bony fingers
Through endless days and nights,
While she spent her days with poets and singers
And in the dark dreamed of heavenly lights.
She didn’t understand the passions he consumed
The thing that drove him past the despair
So that his fruitless existence could bloom.

She pushed away from his ashy skin,
Towards the better man,
The friend still looking for the captain
Cried in solace, than silently ran,
Past the pine needles on the forest floor
Into the river of lost desires
Until the bubbles rose up no more.

Now the rascal continues his chopping
Away falls the bark as he hacks
Then he goes home with the sun’s dropping
And the next day, the bark is all back.
All his efforts are in vain
And he cries while laughing as he keeps going
Revealing a man who’s gone insane.

He goes on and on, till one day
He clutches at his breast
And under the tree his body will stay
While the vultures take care of the rest.