The hunted hare
Became the hunter
The hound dog ran in fear
“Blow the horns!” yelled the Hares,
“The Lord of Misrule is here!”

When darkness overturned the world
And day ceased to rule the land
The Lord of Misrule took the Throne
and all that was thought to be
the True and Only way
For a The Feast of Fools
Became the order of the Day

The Fool has put down the Mighty from their Seats
He has taken the Precanter’s Staff
He has released the prisoner’s from their cells
and placed them by his sides
While Bishops and Cardinals serve them food
And the Condemned may light of their broken pride!

Hares and Hens ran through the halls riding the backs
Of hounds, horses Nuns and Men of the Clothe and shouting
In the voices of Men!

The Fool made Papal Decrees that Bishops oinked only
And Cardinals could both moo and neigh
(He was a generous Fool, they mooed).
The friars danced in women’s frocks on the tables
In women’s frocks
Serving wenches, dressed in Cardinal Red
were served by oinking Bishops

You may think this tale too tall
Perhaps even sacrileges
To imagine the sacred halls
Of Notre Dame de Paris painted
With sigils decreed by this garish fool
Who by lot, had been but a stable boy
Been chosen to be The Lord of Misrule.

But it’s true that up was down and down was up
And Hares talked quite a lot
So much so that not that many years ago,
One was heard to be worried that he was running late!
It was this very party that caused Misrule to change,
‘Maybe we need Fool-proof rules,’ rued aching Cardinals
The end of Misrule Tide.

Hidden away in the twelth century were some of the
Last times animals casually chatted in Notre Dame
They ran out and all about and lived a very long time.
Misrule continued in various forms until Queen Elizabeth
Took the British Throne
But still, hidden away, Misrule, the Fool and it’s Magic rules
There’s no stopping the power of the darkest days!