Then Came the Children

Come gather all around me friends

I'll tell to you about the minstrel band

Children in their witches hats

Painting pictures with the pipes of Ben

A young boy and his sister

Played some tunes upon a whistle made of tin

And led me through a flower garden

Laughing at the postman's stubby chin

And in my dizzy stupor

I was trying hard to forfeit all I know

And listen to that music that could

Swirl me in a magic all its own

Somewhere in the distance you and I

Have fought the monster to a draw

In those days of books and wine

And Ferlinghetti grasping for a straw

And out along the highway

We journeyed far to find the mystic smile

While searching down identities

My god we must have run a million miles

So sing to us your children

Tinkle bells and rhyme the purple green and blue

Think of us as fighting fools

Who wintered through the seasons loving you

For we can teach you nothing

But survival in a desert bare

And you can teach us how to live

And love and tie bright ribbons in our hair

Sing to us your children

Tinkle bells and rhyme the purple green and blue

And think of us as fighting fools

Who wintered through the seasons loving you