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I went for a walk in the woods.
He waved and I blinked my eyes.
He was gone, slipped into the bush.
I thought I was mistaken,
but then I heard a gravelly voice
call to me, “What if?”

“What if it was him?”
I heard myself say.

“What if, what if..”
I began to sing.

I wandered down the trail,
the wind blew gently
some rain began to fall.
The drop drop pitter patter
made a steady beat
to which I stepped my feet
on the grass, the mossy rocks,
the pebbles and the dirt
worn smooth by Indians who
began long before I was here.

“What if, what if?” I sang
as I marched along.
Quickening my pace,
I began to sing this song:

'What if the water ran uphill?
What if nights were dark and quiet
What if days were still?
What if people believed
a better world is possible?
What if What if?

I sang and the wind
sent a breeze, then a shiver
down my spine.
I saw a falling leaf.

What better time to make a friend?
What if, What if, He exists?
What if he spoke to me?
What if as he waved his hand?
He is, like me, a friendly furry man?

What if he lives nearby?
What if he knows the words
to songs sung long ago
When the gentle people of the stars
settled in these hills?
Who welcomed me with gentle wave
Landin on the shore
Those earthly folks who
smoothed this very path.
What if he smoked a pipe and
put his feet up on a stool.
What if I found his place?
What if he had a fireplace
like a hobbit house?

What if he had a stone hot tup
To watch the nighttime sky
see stars twinkling
And stars shooting by.

What if he were a storyteller
Who told me what the trees do say
And the meaning of the birds
What do they have to say?

What if a Martian joined us?
And told us about his flying saucer
and how he learned to fly?
What if he sent a post card home
to tell his friend on Mars
what he saw this very night.

Tea with Bigfoot. A man
walking in the woods a wave
Did see, a blink, he’s gone, a voice
He called to me?

Retreat two steps
two steps again
To peer into the shrubbery
he heard a voice:
“What if, Again?”
Yet saw no trace of that
furry friendly face
Se went on his way to sing:

“What if, what if?
What if he waved to me:
What if, I come back
to take a walk again?
What if He and I were friends?

What if he likes BBQ and
pickles in the ground
What if he had an instrument
What if, wonder about his sound
His voice was low and gravely,
he’d need something deep
What if a bass or susipoone
Wouldn’t that be neat?

What if he had a wife named Alice
and ran a restaurant.
Called ‘The Hidden Beaast’
What if the voices of many
Began to sing as one
And the animals began to sing along
An elephant’s might trumpet,
a most unusual horn!

Dogs yapping and birds chirping
Whistling, the wind
Purs and scratch and meow
said all the cats
“Neigh” horses on the Raines
Let me loose to join
this strange parade
What if the animals sang together
What a strange tune
What if—you never know
A dog played the guitar and
a cat famous for his keys
What if a monkey made a flute
from a bamboo stalk
And then to began to sing a song,
“you thought I couldn’t talk?”
We’re like you and me,
you live in a house and I live in a tree
I looked in your window and saw myself on TV
What if the monkey had some friends
A gorilla or orangutan
who could play the drums
A lion with a harp and
a wart hog with a harmonica
What if—you never know
I saw cows come running
To hear a heavenly cello.

What if Bigfoot had a library
of these common words,
the third the caw, the quack, the nut.

“What if,” he said “Let’s have a feast”
Bigfoot said to me.
As he poured a tasty porter
brewed with monkeys yeast.
Friends of mine he said,
always been a secret
they have never shared
that I smoke a pipe and
put my feet up on a stool
I am the holder of the secrets of
our Mother Earth.
You have been selected
who walks with gentle foot
to share these secrets with
the people of the Earth.

“Some have seen me here or there,
but I leave without a trace,
but you who heard me say,
“What if?“ have learned that
I am real.
To the rest of Earth
I ask you to reveal :

There is the Earth,
the Sun, the Moon,
the Waters and the Skies,
the heavens they call the one above
and Earth the one below, Humans have made hell.

Once a peaceful paradise walked man,
till he walked and walked no more.
He made things he did not need and
work became his way.
To do a job and work away
the life given to be free.

Food was found on the trees
and on the vines,
the planting was all done
by the wind and bees,
the water and the sun.

“I want more.” said some.
“I want power over you
for I am taller I am bigger and
I’’ll make you run from the place
you walked so free,
the first wars begun

“What if what if” Bigfoot sang,
“the world made peace?”
“Maybe then I’d join your band,
yes, I’d play the bass.
Many songs I know, many I will write.
I am a poet of the woods
a being of class and taste.
I like to light a fire and
put my feet up on a stool and
smoke a pipe and
read The Canterbury Tales

What if What if What if
you say is really true,
can you help me he said,
“I’ll tell you what to do.

What if I have a bunch of friends
who are Bigfoot too>?

What if the lies that you’ve believ3ed
fell from your eyes, then you’d see
I’m just like you
beneath my Bigfoot guise.
Perhaps we’d make a funny pair
singing side by side

What if a hairy man
singing in the rain
brought back proof,
did you hear the rain?

Come on back Sunday next
to the same place
When you hear, “What if, What if?”
You know you’ve found the place,
bring some paper and a pen
and a recording machine.
I shall tell a tale
you will one day believe.

What if, what If
I do not deceive
I wandered home and
pondered what he said

What if my eyes misheard
or my ears misled?
What if I sang a silly song
Only a fool would believe

I saw him in the woods
on a rainy day
I met a hairy man
I met a hairy man
One day I walked into the woods
And He waved a hairy hand.

Benjamin Bridge

Tea With Bigfoot