What D'Ye Lack?

A Musical Play of Words

For all of us who made that magical transition from traveler

to member of the tribe ...

and especially for my parents

Overtures

What D'ye Lack? - I & II

I.
Horsedung and woodsmoke are sharp upon the morning air,
And criers' calls are all but lost within the babble of the throng at start of day.
The mongers and the traders and the craftsmen must with lusty voices
Vie to catch the traveler's eye.
What d'ye lack?
Come hither - spy these melons, ripe and firm --
Salt fish for sale - Fresh buns --
Here, my lords and ladies -- Here
Bright glass, fine leathers, rare and well-wrought wares to grace the hall
Or homely hearthside service do --
Here's iron and steel, here's brooms and pots;
Here jewels, and baubles, ribbands colorful and gay
With which to honor and to enter the festivity.
What d'ye lack?
Here's victuals and drink, here song and sport --
Here be the very prodigy of humankind, the marvels of an age
Alive and dancing in their revelry.
Draw near - and view the drollery of fools and fops,
Of maids and gallants, and of simple folk
Amidst the stalls and shops that spring up in our British Brigadoon.
Come nigh - and join the play of spirits loosed
In woodland fantasy.
Come buy - come try your luck --
Come, Traveler, to the Faire.
What d'ye lack?'
Tis here. There is a rich supply
Available - and at such price
As you may well afford - or no --
No matter - come --
And drink the sights and sounds
And feed the soul on Dionysian revelry.

II.
What d'ye lack?
What brings you, Traveler, to the faire?
What would you have
Your modern world of reason and of science and of artifice
Cannot supply?
What would you find? What would you pay
Where time is rent, and worlds collide in merry meeting,
Where the faire folk weave their magic spell
And raise the pennants of Titania's bower,
Where new and golden ages merge and flower!
What d'ye lack?
And in what quarter of this wondrous realm awaits
Your faire adventure?
You cannot - in good faith - deny
You come here seeking.
You come with purses at your fingertips to buy,
And hard pence to cast away - to feast, to play
At lordling's games, to find amusement.
Or yet, mayhap, with youth and beauty as your coin,
You come to barter for the current heart's desire.
You come to join the play --
And for a long, enchanted day, a season out of time,
To move upon the stage of Shakespeare's mind,
With rogues and vagabonds, with ladies and with lords,
With virtues and with vices all writ large
And broad in icons of the Human Drama,
With majesty -
And deep, intriguing counter-current flow
Of common urgings --
You come to see - to be
Bathed in the flow of festival.