The Ballad of Rennratt

[Day 3 of the 31 Days of Poetry]

Today's poem is actually a song. I borrowed the tune from a classic Simpsons episode where Homer leads the Nuclear Power Plant on strike and Lisa cheers up the strikers' spirits with a Peace-movement-esque Protest Song.  Listen to this clip a time or two before you read the poem, so you get the tune and the cadence in your head. Tempo is very important. For example, of the last word in the 1st and 3rd line of each stanza is elongated in pronunciation to fit the rhythm. (Where appropriate I have tried to indicate that.)

Finally, all poems are better when read aloud, and I always hope people will do that for my poems (and thereby get more out of them). But for this one...c'mon - it's a song!  You gotta sing along!







The Ballad of Rennratt



So gather 'round children
And take off your hat
For a tale of wonder
'bout the Legend: Rennratt

She was born on a mountain
To a fierce red-tailed hawk
Who, when seeing her hatchling
Was in for a shock




CHORUS
So she grew up a predator
And she never knew fear
She thought she could fly-y-y
With her big mousy ears


Instead of soft feathers
She was covered in fur
What hawk has a tai-ai-ail
Her mom was unsure


Little Rennratt was darling 
As she played in the snow
And her mom could not toss her
To the valley below


So she grew up a predator
And she never knew fear
She thought she could fly-y-y
With her big mousy ears


When Rennratt was grown
She went down to the town
And her courage and cunning
Gained her quite the renown


The city was teeming
With big dogs and cats
But they learned not to mess with 
A red-tailed Rennratt


So she grew up a predator
And she never knew fear
She thought she could fly-y-y
With her big mousy ears


Rennratt loved to gamble
And she piled up big debts
So she took to the Sea-ea-ea
To become a Pirate


So, don't ever talk ba-a-ack
Or the plank, you will walk
She'll hoist the black fla-a-ag
'Cause Rennratt's a hawk


So she grew up a predator
And she never knew fear
She thought she could fly-y-y
With her big mousy ears


So she grew up a predator
And she never knew fear
She thought she could fly-y-y
With her big mousy ears










[And because I happen to know that there is no song to which Rennratt would not like to thrash, here is an up-tempo instrumental version so you can sing The Ballad of Rennratt. Be careful, though: singing this poem is a powerful aphrodisiac to all women and pirates.]







See the full 2011 Edition of the 31 Days of Poetry

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