The Cento: A Collection of Collage Poems

Cento Canto

42 f. J. bergmAnn Cento Canto It came upon a midnight clear Its fleece was white as snow did you ever see such a sight in your life? no, my love, no Are you sad? Are you cross? Are you gathering moss? I’ll find a reason to believe that it’s all true don’t bogart that joint, my friend Rebel without a clue We don’t need no education We three kings of Orient are I can’t get no satisfaction How I wonder what you are This land is your land; this land is my land I wanna hold your hand All in the fall, in the fall of the year Walking in a winter wonderland The bear went over the mountain Where the deer and the antelope play Her legs went on forever singing polly-wolly-doodle all the day 43 Way down upon the swanee River deep and crisp and even The sun so hot I froze to death so I dub thee Unforgiven suicide is painless With an illegal smile Wild, wild horses Riding many a mile I’ll never be your beast of burden I, said the donkey, shaggy and brown And you won’t need no camel ’Cause it’s such a long way down I spied a young cowboy all wrapped in white linen How still we see thee lie The scaffold is high, eternity near To take you to his mansion in the sky Riders on the storm Where the skies are blue All the winds are laughing ’Cause you’re unforgiven, too 44 It’s the end of the world as we know it I’ve been Rolling stoned and Beatled till I’m blind don’t go out tonight; it’s bound to take your life And there are no diamonds in the mine You’re blinded by rainbows The mist like an angel’s gown Hey, you; don’t tell me there’s no hope at all santa Claus is coming to town Oh, show me the way to the next whiskey bar And the fool on the hill O when the saints come marching in show me the way to Bar & Grill Faster horses, younger women And your horse naturally won some are born to a sweet delight That ain’t the way to have fun, son I was betrayed by Flora The pain it was sharp as a knife Well, sharpen it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry Has anybody seen my life? 45 You gotta keep ’em separated Let the bodies hit the floor And never mind that noise you heard In 1984 Lucy in the sky with diamonds Yesterday don’t matter when it’s gone Please allow me to introduce myself devil with a blue dress on ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall One more joint to kill the pain One more silver dollar And I hoist my axe again If I could keep time in a bottle Have some Madeira, my dear If I had a rocket launcher Oh I wish that you were here Oh my darling, oh my darling When I squeeze you, you make noise Your brother’s gonna kill me and he’s six feet ten And I don’t have a choice 46 He’s dressed in a silver-sparked glittering gown Keep me searching for a heart of gold Hey babe, take a walk on the wild side What a drag it is getting old These boots were made for walking Look what those five feet can do stop! In the name of love! Ah-roooooo swing low, sweet chariot Bring me my arrows of desire Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily Try to set the night on fire By the waters of Babylon It’s a hard rain’s gonna fall We all live in a yellow submarine And drown in alcohol Maybe in another life Oh bring back my bonnie to me Yes, we have no bananas I have tried in my way to be free ...