The Captain and the Caboose
Goopy Train, Goopy Train, finally here!
Chocolates and cherries from engine to rear!
As townsfolk and children emphatically cheer,
the Goopy Train, Goopy Train draws to a near!
Pentagonal pretzels and peppermint sticks!
Gumdrops and Goodbars galore!
Car after boxcar of licorice twists
that no one can find in the store!
The day has arrived, spread open your fists!
There’s candy and caramel and more;
the Goopy Train, Goopy Train, Goopy Train,
Goopy Train, Goopy Train’s halted near shore!
Around the abound the Goopy Train rolls
from hamlet to city to border
bringing sweet goodness to desperate souls
without even charging so much as a quarter;
the engineer... a gingerbread gal!
Oh, please won’t you help us support her?
Won’t you try our sticky—sticks —
our frosted-nerds and cream;
won’t you believe in magic tricks
and partner up with a dream?
“Enough already! I’ve heard the tale!
I’ve heard you all roaring with glee!
I got the brochure they sent out in the mail
adorned with pictures and poetry!
The lickers, the Snickers, the ice cream pails
along with free fudge don’t do it for me
so gorge yourself on Hershey’s hail
for I am content with the Sea -
the winter winds that thrash and flail,
producing ocean-tide majesty.
A ship, a star, and a natural gale
are all I require you see!
The Goopy Train, Goopy Train, Goopy Train,
Goopy Train, Goopy Train isn’t for me!”
“But unicorns, sir, and leprechauns too,
do dance and delight and belong
to each contributing to the crew
waiting outside for the song
that bellows and wails and carries Love’s tune
to souls who admit when they’re wrong -
oh, won’t you dock your silly ship,
and bring your companions along?
For those who refuse or denounce from the start
awaits the gallow,
awaits the noose,
the Banstickle, sir, was born with no heart.
Her morals are livid.
Her morals are loose.
(Her Borlons will scoop you inside of a cart,
and lock you up in the caboose!
Consider these truths before you depart,
at least have a jug of the juice!)
The wheels have stalled;
the engine has cooled;
the doors have all opened for you!
The people are smiling
and filling themselves -
you will not get far silly fool!
The Banstickle surely
has noticed you here;
oh, pray thee sir what will you do?
The Goopy Train,
Goopy Train,
Goopy Train,
Goopy Train,
Goopy Train’s
waiting for you!”
“I have no need for
what it brings -
for fudge, for frivolous
fairy-tale-things,
for magic or unicorn horns.
I have no need for
any fool thing,
that saves the world
whenever it sings,
of cotton candy and candy corn!
No beast so like your Banstickle
my God would let be born!
So, why not give up on this nonsense my child,
and come with us out to the Sea?
Leave to droll dreamers the plentiful piles
to gorge on gumdrops and gluttony!
Experience life in raw, rapid wild;
abandon your lie - your fantasy.
The Goopy Train, Goopy Train, Goopy Train,
Goopy Train, Goopy Train’s merely illusory!”
“But sir, you will die, along with your men!
I’m going to get back in line!
Sail, if you must, my obstinate friend,
I wish you good fortune in time,
but know that beyond every boreal bend
the Banstickle’s not far behind!
The ocean is vast, your yoemen brave,
the salt-scent’s sweet in the air -
a fitting fate, a watery grave
awaits all defectors out there!
Nothing and no one can possibly save,
your men or yourself, despite prayer
the townsfolk have scattered
like random Mad-hatters
to ask God to fend off this slayer!”
“Then hurry along boy, lest YOU be slain,
by that which you fancy exists!
I’ve given the order to hoist the main
and shove us off into the mist!
The sea has a secret in every last wave,
that a sailor no more can resist
than you, or all your brethren there,
can turn down a peppermint twist -
than you or any who’ve had their fill
can ever expect to understand this;
but I promise you child, the ocean, the ocean,
the ocean she never forgets!”
“I gave you every chance, old man,
but now it is time that you heard
the truth is, 'I’m the Banstickle’,
whose come to collect you now, sir -
I’m the one who comes for fickle
'undecideds’ who might demur.
You could have had candy!
You could have known love!
You could have avoided this fate!
But here I’m afraid,
there’ll be no parade;
now it is wholly too late.
You are the secret ingredient
I process to put on the plates!
You and all your filthy kind!
Fighters, fools and reprobates
the Goopy Train, Goopy Train, Goopy Train,
Goopy Train, Goopy Train happily masticates!”
“Since you have fin’ly revealed to me
the nature of she who you are,
and since you intend to steal my sea,
my love for the breeze and the star,
the time has come for ME to reveal
what I’ve been waiting around for.
'I’ am the dream 'you’ are having right now
and if 'you’ destroy 'me’, 'you’ see,
there won’t be any stops at all
for children to run to with glee;
for if I fail, and if I fall,
if you do not let me go free,
the Goopy Train, Goopy Train, Goopy Train,
Goopy Train, Goopy Train simply can’t be!”...
...and so the Captain of the crew,
and Banstickle, too, slept on,
wondering what to make of it all
before they awakened at dawn.
Not even from
the crow’s nest could
be seen a trace to call upon!
The ocean remained as calmly as
it ever had planned to move on,
and not a whisper could be heard
from those who’d gathered on the lawn
before the gilded, Goopy Train herd
and the Banstickle were gone!
Maybe that magic and wonder and cheer
will come once again some eve
so long as the Banstickle inside the man
has faith strong enough to believe -
so long as 'the Captain searching for land’
has more than mere tricks up his sleeve.
Maybe there’s more to do with time
than sail... eat candy... or grieve!
Maybe the world is not so dark,
as stars refueling wait to burn.
Maybe there’s something akin to a spark
that hasn’t been toxically churned,
waiting to help our souls embark
on quests of the heart’s concerns,
for if life’s Captains don’t always abstain
from chances to live, or to learn,
the Goopy Train, Goopy Train, Goopy Train,
Goopy Train, Goopy Train just may return!
