VAGABOND SONG
by William Bliss Carman
THERE is something in the autumn that is native to my blood—
Touch of manner, hint of mood;
And my heart is like a rhyme,
With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time.
The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry 5
Of bugles going by.
And my lonely spirit thrills
To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills.
There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir;
We must rise and follow her, 10
When from every hill of flame
She calls and calls each vagabond by name.
THERE is something in the autumn that is native to my blood—
Touch of manner, hint of mood;
And my heart is like a rhyme,
With the yellow and the purple and the crimson keeping time.
The scarlet of the maples can shake me like a cry 5
Of bugles going by.
And my lonely spirit thrills
To see the frosty asters like a smoke upon the hills.
There is something in October sets the gypsy blood astir;
We must rise and follow her, 10
When from every hill of flame
She calls and calls each vagabond by name.
Since it is October, I think it's high time for an ode to gypsies. In my life I have wanted to be a gypsy more than anything else, except possibly a writer--or a mermaid. Gypsies have all the fun, as you can see.
If you are a gypsy, you can do things that ordinary people only dream about. For example:
- You can keep a monkey as a pet.
- You can wear long, swirly skirts and lots of bangles.
- You can dance in public to a banjo and a fiddle and a tambourine.
- You can have your own horse.
- You can eat your meals around a campfire while laughing and singing with all your friends and family.
- Your clothes can clash horrifically, and no one will judge you.
- You can go barefoot all the time.
- Your hair can be in snarls, and people will think it's pretty.
- And best of all... you can live in one of these wagons, (also called Vardos):
(link)
(link)
(link)
(link)
(link)
For more photos like these, you can visit this flickr link, and become drunk on love for gypsy life.
The more I think about this fascination, the more I see how it has trickled down from childhood and affected my life now. The way I dress, the way I write, the way I hope. My character is as influenced by the things I loved as a child as it is by the things I love today. Sometimes I think I haven't grown up much at all, I've only piled knowledge and experience onto my childhood self. That underneath this mask of twenty-something, ambitious, mature (ha!) young woman, I'm actually just a little girl who loves gypsies and mermaids and puppies.
Your turn! What has been alluring to you all your life? The adventurous gypsy life? The cutthroat high seas? The fairy tale world of castles and knights and princesses? Have those tastes carried over into your adult life and continued to shape the person you are today?
If you could spend a month living any other kind of life, what would it be?
