Esther
It was late one fall night at a fairground near town - When Esther first saw the Armenian man - Who groveled toward her and stood by her side - With a bucket that swung in his hand - His grin stretched the folds of his pasty white cheeks - And his lips hurled a dollop of murk on the curb - And the lights from the rides showed a mischievous sparkle - That flashed in his hollow eyed stare - He said "Little girl, you can chop off my legs - And then peel off my socks if you want to. - But I'd rather you took this old puppet from me - That I hold in my pail as we speak." - And he stood looking down at the innocent girl - And she stared at the bucket bewildered - Til he lifted the doll for the young girl to see - And a giant smile grew on his face - She saw the doll's eyes and she couldn't resist - And she thanked the man quickly and ran to the church - And she burst through the door with puppet held high - And a hush filled the chapel, and the people looked mean - Esther tried in vain to pacify the mob - Quibble grew to spat, to wrangle, then to brawl - The frenzied congregation struggled desperately to fetch - The pretty puppet snugly nestled deep in Esther's leather sack - Through the window of the church a storm began to rage - And Esther knew the time had come to flee - She scurried down the aisle toward the doorway in the distance - And out into the rainstorm where she felt she would be free - But the wind was blowing harder - And her skirt began to billow - Until finally her feet began to lift - And she rose above the people and the houses and the chimneys - And Esther and the doll were set adrift - Floating higher over the hills, - and the valleys and treetops they'd flutter and glide - Soaring and turning suspended on air - With the earth far below them they'd tumble - And dive through the clouds - And she began to plummet earthward till she landed in the nasty part of town - She glanced about the village sure to find the evil men - Who rob and pillage in the darkest hour of night - Nervously she fumbled for the pouch that held the - Puppet on her rump. - Feeling quite outnumbered Esther hid behind - A nearby pile of lumber, where she waited till the dawn - Cause it would have been a blunder to - Succumb to a hoodlum on the prowl - When the morning came, she wandered through the streets - Along the chilly lake that lay beside the town - At last a peaceful moment, but she thought she heard a sound - It was an angry mob of joggers coming up to knock her down - As Esther stood and shook her head the joggers were approaching - And she knew she had no choice left but to swim - As the frosty water sank its bitter teeth into her hide - She tried to slide the heavy clothing from her skin - Naked now she made her way toward the shore - When suddenly she felt a tiny tugging at her toe. - And the puppet she'd forgotten wrapped its tiny - Little arms around her ankle and wouldn't let her go. - The waves seemed to open and swallow her whole - As the doll pulled her down through the eerie green deep - And the sound of the laughing old man filled her ears - As she drifted away to a tranquil and motionless sleep