A PARAPHRASE

OF

"UNDER MILK WOOD"

"BY"

"DYLAN THOMAS"

 

 

Are you up or are you down in Llareggub,

You may know, or you may not.

If you heard the Reverend Eli Jenkins,

Would you think it morn or night?

Are they the  sounds of Organ Morgan

That thump their tip-top tale,

Or the voice of Polly Garter

That recite her past betrayal?

For Willy Wee had left her

When he was taken far away!

She searched all the farm boys in the dale;

Mr Waldo, he was there, and satisfied

His need, but left undone by Willy Wee.

In dreams within her fort of food and cloth,

Miss Myfanwy Price enfolded fantasy of love.

While Mog Edwards at a distance,

Reciprocated in dreams enduring in written word.

The awakening day disturbs the dead;

Drowned victims, seen in azure sea,

Bemoaned in slumbers depth deep, dark black sleep,

To the mind muddling memory of Captain Cat.

First, Dancing Williams, forgotten feet fast,

Followed by Tom Fred, barnacle ridden donkeyman;

Duty done by, he did, reported Rosie Probert.

Jolly Jonah Jarvis, undone for enjoyment;

Clock confessing, Curly Bevan pawned his aunt's.

Who would wonder away the waking wishes,

Past processions, prompting poorly painted

Memories of fondness, forgotten from Maesgwyn to Dowlais.

 

Back amidst the bed of bells beyond

Fabric fancied frenzied friendship,

Myfanwy might, moaning, motioning mindful Mog;

Slumber separate, seamless seamstress.

Jack Black bemoans back betwixt

Bare, bold girls, beyond, unbooted,

Bubbling beneath green canopies of boys.

Even Evans the Death, despatcher

Undertaking dreams of earlier affairs,

Clears clean currant carried snow.

Whilst, whistling Mister Waldo

Wanders, worried by tongue wagging women;

Waiting, watching his worldly way before he wed.

By Bayview, bedded between both bodiless spirits,

Spectres spoken, Mrs Ogmore-Pritchard pecking,

Prim and prompting past petitions Mr Pritchard,

Predeceased by Mr Ogmore, both beguiled, besieged,

Barraged and bridled until breathless.

Beyond, Butcher Beynon's dainty daughter, Gossamer;

Soft and scholarly shared her sighs,

Soothing her suitor, Sinbad.

 

 

 

 

Lo for

Coronation Street

, crowned by copper;

P.C. Attila Rees presents, playing water music,

Amidst a composition of cries, cackles and cows.

Cocklers at opposite ends, Mr and Mrs Floyd,

Caught, covered condimented kippers.

See Salt Lake Farm reverberating Utah Watkins' count,

In fields of hill climbing unshepherded sheep;

Knitted copies of Mrs Utah Watkins, incomplete.

Has Ocky Milkman drowned in churning Dewi?

Washed away, liquid swept, wishing well.

While Cherry Owen, neighbour, drank his fish.

Water, leaked untimely, while P.C. Rees

Applied his authority at high tide above his head.

What pedantic postman pounds promptly

Mrs Willy Nilly, delivering a daily dose of rat-a-tat.

And into the dense dark hum drum daze,

Dreams delight delicious and dilated deprivations.

 

Bessie Bighead, sweet smelling of straw, snores,

Remembers Gomer Owen, gone, once kissed, now no more.

Meandering thoughts feed fathoms of Mr Pugh,

And Eli Jenkins musical mastery at Eisteddfodau.

To trumpeting tempered tonsorial tempo

Of Organ Morgan, dampened by Mrs and cotton bats.

In the garden of green grocery Eden, leguminous

Mary Ann Sailors, clothed, ripe and ready to peel

That dew dropped delicacy of podded pea.

Succinct the wandering in

Donkey Street

;

Dai Bread, Polly Garter, Nogood Boyo, unassociated

To Lord Cut Glass, who's tick chimes rhythmically and tocks.

Oh! for Gwalia, and many the river bound boys,

Of terraced streets, sporadic sprayed

Dens of density of spirit, incumbent neighbours,

Nosey and nocturnal, noisily awakened.

Beautiful mind, the boisterous activity

Beneath cascading clouds, and carboniferous cwms;

Clinging, copying mountain ridden, sea streaking,

Shimmering water ways of wandering witty Welsh.

 

Lilly Smalls reflects her image, her duty,

Daunted by demands of Mrs Beynon,

To serve tea, as Mrs Pugh chides the same,

Mr Pugh contemplating in hushed voice, a bitter cup.

P.C. Attila Rees stamps out to shore.

Chords played by Organ Morgan to heckling gulls above;

Dai Bread, rushed, half dressed, unfed,

Twice wed or given bed to Mrs Dai Bread One

Who borrows bread, while  Mrs Dai Two Bread hangs loose.

A dog exercises, following postal issue blue.

Miss Price, prissy, primes her pouched egg.

Polly Garter pegs, delivering milk as common sustenance.

Privacy secure, steamed, Mrs Willy Nilly waits:

Breakfast boils over, every household filled.

Past pleasures preamble preparations,

Activities, clattering cobblestones of clicking children.

Captain Cat commentates on carrying-ons carried

To his closed cinema of sightless sound filled pictures.

Clip clopped cobbles, twittering twigs, barking boxes,

See-sawing swings, chattering children and clucking busy bodies;

Bustling in the best generalised gossip shop store.

 

The day is distressed, as the Sun showers, Spring

Shining, singing sandy shells, stirring schoolmistress'.

Echoes, Evans the Death, the rattle in his chest,

Hammered, by Jack Black, in high heeled stern shoes.

Love songs recited, clandestine and stolen,

Mrs Willy Nilly steamed up, Mog Edwards' mail,

Tales of vice and tails of fish like love.

Captain Cat sings solicitous songs of sin.

Mrs Dai Bread Two foresees frolicking futures,

Recites her story, enamours Mrs Dai Bread One.

Polly Garter scrubs, steps, singing of Tom, Dick and Harry,

While Rev. Eli Jenkins blesses and passes by.

Mr Waldo sips his suds, solicited again.

Sinbad Sailor sighs, sweetly swooning for a lady.

Gwennie's kisses wait the boys in

Goosegog Lane

,

On Llareggub Hill and still in Milk Wood, for a penny.

Gossamer Beynon bubbles, bursting, buzzes, cotton dressed,

Waiting on Sinbad, wanting and wasting, wishfully.

Pork product and personal pig sty, prepare Mrs Pugh,

Minced, murdered in the mind of Mr Pugh.

Organ Morgan distracted discusses Bach,

While Mrs, small boys and antics of Polly G.

And time is kept sixty six resounding reverberating bells

As Lord Cut Glass squats before his chiming dish.