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Devens
David Devens hide low,
David Devens bend,
Those days are gone forevens Devens,
So David Devens bend.
Did you hear how he did our river, did you hear?
How he brought down in his pockets a gang of little boys?
And began to build a dam with rocks and sand and noise?
With rocks and sand and noise,
and when the time had come,
Devens lay athwart the river,
Devens lay without a shiver,
diverting rushing rapids, flowing tides and river slags,
changing all the course of our brown river,
changing it himself, with his hands as wide as flags.
David Devens hide low,
David Devens bend,
Those days are gone forevens Devens
So David Devens bend.
His laughs engulfed the little boys,
he didn’t feel their hundred arms
as he trod the muddy basin near a fathom deep,
routing speckled trout which scattered in alarm;
And when everyone was tepid with exhaustion
Devens stood there, giant tall,
open mouth against a hydrant,
bouncing on the sky a giant ball.
David Devens hide low,
David Devens bend,
Those days are gone forevens Devens
So David Devens bend.
If something should be needed quick,
call Devens;
if someone is trapped in the deep dark woods,
call him;
If a boy is in the tallest tree, a bear behind the barn,
if lightning smites your house in twain,
he’ll hold it together through the pelting rain,
and to comfort, will shout you loud an old refrain,
pushing his glasses back on his nose,
letting the little boys hang on his clothes,
hide in his pockets, ride on his toes;
and remember, if you want your stream diverted,
your river to turn to the west,
tell Devens.
He will do it best.
David Devens hide low,
David Devens bend,
Those days are gone forevens Devens,
So David Devens bend.