The Jubjub Bird's Lament Mike Jubb
We saw him slay the Jabberwock,
The Bandersnatch and I;
Our eyes filled up with salty tears,
But still we could not cry.
We dared not make a single sound,
As the tulgey earth turned red,
When the vorpal blade went snicker-snack,
And left our dear friend dead.
Perhaps if we had stood as brave
As the Jabberwock had stood,
Together we’d have chased the foe
From our beloved wood.
But we hid amongst the shadows
From that murdering maniac;
And we watched with hate the swanksome foe
As he went galumphing back.
And was he welcomed home with pride
To loving arms that held him tight?
While Bandersnatch and I could find
No comfort on that night.
For every time we shut our eyes
We saw again our slaughtered friend;
And life without His eyes of flame
Was more than we could comprehend.
The whiffling and the burbling
Of the Jabberwock are done.
Decapitated by the sword
Of some man’s beamish son.
What right had he enter here,
To murder and to mock?
What right had he to steal the head
Of our darling Jabberwock?
That day was not a frabjous one,
For childish chortling in his joy.
How could a father urge his son
To seek us out and then destroy
The Jabberwock, who only killed to eat?
When mighty man decides to kill
He does so without reasoning,
And perhaps he always will.
I cursed the frumious Bandersnatch,
And the Bandersnatch cursed me,
As guiltily we crept out from
Behind the tumtum tree.
We cursed our fear, our cowardice,
We cursed our day of birth,
As we cradled the headless body
On that bloody piece of earth.
‘twas brillig and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble as before;
All mimsey were the borogroves
Throughout the forest floor.
But the Jabberwock will never know
How much we loved our manxsome friend;
Now the Bandersnatch is shunned by all,
And the Jubjub’s heart won’t mend.
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Poem: The Jubjub Bird's Lament
