The Pair the Boatman Mentioned (Cullions)

Lyrics

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
In the vestry of St. Mary's, Suffolk, 1599,
William Shakespeare, born 1564, pens Henry V.
Act II, Scene I, Pistol spits at the Iceland dog:
"Pish for thee, thou prick-ear'd cur! Away, you cullion!"
The word hangs there, base and despicable,
A pair mentioned in jest, yet heavy with old sin.

[Chorus]
Cullions, the boatman whispered on the Thames, autumn evening,
50 degrees Fahrenheit, mist rising at 9 PM.
The church uses it sparingly, in sermons on folly,
Like Falstaff's tavern tales echoing off stone walls.
Morally unsparing, we name them: testicles, archaic fruit.

[Verse 2]
First Folio, 1623, preserves the Bard's fire,
James Orchard Halliwell, 1847, defines it in his dictionary:
A coarse fellow, or those hidden parts, low as the mud.
Strange fact: in dialects of 17th-century markets,
Cullion meant a rough onion, phonetic twin to shame,
Sold at stalls near the river, where boatmen rowed and cursed.

[Bridge]

The gaps in record: unnamed boatmen lost to time,
Their voices drowned in the Thames' flow, undocumented.
What frequency in oral speech, Elizabethan air?
We ponder over rye bread crust and weak ale mug,
Scent of tallow and damp stone, quill scratching notes.

[Verse 3]
Reverend Goss at the lectern, brass candlestick dripping wax,
On a draft of sermon, marked with faded ribbon.
The pair the boatman mentioned, splintered oar in hand,
Fishy odor mixing with river mud, sharp and acrid.
The church spares it, but truth demands the word,
For moral lessons, warm and dry, in this chilly room.

[Outro]
Cullions, whispered once more, in the vestry's hush.