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Perris Valley
Join me now in seeing the beautiful playing of the beings all
around us,
Expressing sharing the biosphere of earth with us,
Dolphins frolicking, dashing spray at sea,
Squirrels with their tails flowing, leaping tree to tree:
An elk stag bugling, sounding his love call,
Peregrine falcons mating in free fall;
A timber wolf cocking her head quizzically,
Tiger cubs cuffing, sprawling clumsily;
Penguins popping up on the ice flow,
Humming birds hovering, darting to and fro;
Baboons staging theater-in-the-round,
A rockin ol' bull walrus, makin' his walrus sound;
A big dog bounding high to catch a frisbee,
Kittens with their tiny claws having an unquilting bee;
Thoroughbreds at the gate, tossing their heads a prancing,
Elephants trumpeting, in the jungle dancing;
Otters sliding down the mud slide,
A white whale sounding, breaching high an' wide.
CHORUS:
All kinds of play are found round the world,
From chess in the Ukraine to bull fights in Spain,
From Olympic Games with banners in furled,
To Death Games amid sand grains at El Alamein,
Yes, play is a word we use every which way,
From gun play to sword play to word play to foreplay,
From gamboling lambs in a meadow in May
Or a gambling man in old Santa Fe,
One space to play in,
One place to fly free south of L.A.,
And in from the sea, diving away from the D.C. 3,
High in the wind over Perris Valley, valley, valleeee, Perris Valleeee.
I close my eyes and see people at play,
Age in the night to this day:
A batter swinging in the box,
A climber reaching on the rocks,
A skier swooshing by on skis,
A glider gliding in the breeze,
A biker pumping by on a bike,
A tyke pedaling a trike,
A bird watcher watching birds,
A poet stringing together words,
A caver torching in a cave,
A surfer riding on a wave,
A marathoner running the race,
A poker player playing an ace,
A chess player reaching to take a piece,
A channel swimmer all coated with grease,
A gambler rolling on the table two dice,
A skater twirling on the ice,
A soap box speaker being verbose,
A late night comic being gross,
A colonel being a cannon loose,
Truman waving from a caboose,
A gymnast swinging on the rings,
A guitarist playing on the strings,
Skydivers swooping to the formation
Excited patriots forming a nation.
CHORUS:
All kinds of play are found round the world,
from chess in the Ukraine to bull fights in Spain....
by Larry Yohn
Yohn is a skydiver, skydiving teacher, and
high school teacher in Perris, California.
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