Fiona And The Goob, more..

1. The Goob

No one was quite sure what he was;
some thought he was nothing,
others believed he had slipped free
from a sleeping child’s mind.

John the birdwatcher was
The first to spot him -he said
he didn’t have a face exactly
but the expression he wore was kind.

2. Fiona’s Song

They think I’m lazy,
I know what they say.
They’ve got it all wrong
I’m just faraway.

Excited children
set bright balloons free.
See, they drift faraway
but not as far as me.

3. John Watching

John the Birdwatcher was in hiding
when he spotted Fiona Faraway.
He swore the Goob was paragliding.
How he managed that he couldn’t say.

The Goob is most resourceful
as everybody knows. He’s very good at sliding,
And though his manner isn’t forceful,
people take care. He has a habit of colliding.
As he helps his victim to his feet, he looks remorseful.
He can feel how Fiona glares.

4. The Goob And The Girl

Fiona Faraway slept safe in her bed
while the Goob turned somersaults inside her head.
When she awoke she could never recall
if the Goob was tiny or incredibly tall.
she always remembered his velvety toes
as they bumped against the back of her nose.

5. Fiona Sets Out

“I’m going to meet the Goob”
she said in a whisper,
one night when the moon was deaf.
The stars  pretended not to listen
while Fiona muttered
under her breath.

Fiona Faraway gathered her wits,
she packed her freshly laundered dreams,
and one or two elastic schemes
with a couple of useful bits

The stars kept watch as
Fiona’s  bed sailed
across the night’s deep sea.
She kept the moon to starboard
Steering for the sandy shore
where the Goob waited patiently.

6. Cloud Watching

Yesterday’s breeze
has frisked its way
across the Zuider Zee;
it must be tickling treetops
now in distant Germany.

The Goob keeps watch
as stately clouds
drift through their airy seas.
“The happiest clouds” Fiona says
“can be anything that you please.”

7. Goob Talk

Fiona’s friend Ruby
was feeling kind of Gooby.

“Does the Goob know,” she asked her friend,
“how far away does the rainbow end?”

“I don’t think the Goob knows anything at all,
“his heart is big, but his brain is small.”

“Fiona, Fiona, how can that be true?
“think of all the things that the Goob taught you!”

“The Goob trusts his feelings and follows his nose
“he jumps very high and curls his toes

“where ever that takes him he always forgets
but he lives in the future and feels no regrets.”

8. Goob Again!

He appears so grand in his absence of clothes,
his nakedness pure as the sharp-thorned rose.

His heart, she could see, quickened with butterfly agility,
his spirit all glowing, fine-spun thistle down, gossamery.

No need here for ballots or votes,
No room at all for slogans or sound-bite quotes

Who should be Goobanorial, if not the Goob?
Who best can burrow through the dread U-Toob?


9. Fiona And John

When he went watching
she started to tag along.
"Listen," said John, "don't look
at the feather, hear the song!"


10. Where Do Goobs Go?

The Goob confided in Fiona.
He told her that everyone grows,
except the Goob. The Goob is poetry,
life is prose. Fiona glowed with pride,
because the Goob had decided
she was the right person
to share his Goobery.