the ballad of willy and nora and old doc

willy white and nora green were connoisseurs of the unseen willy wanted love and cash nora pined for jewels and flash what they wanted they wanted now they didn't need it just anyhow they were sick of being hurt treated like some kind of dirt ever since the world was new people told them what to do passed them by in cadillacs with hard rain pounding on their backs as they passed from town to town the locals tried to wear them down threw them in the county hoosegow with hardly even an excuse, now when a guy can't make a buck and a dame's down on her luck and can't take it any more what can they do but try to score? humans have been around too long seen every dance, heard every song though suckers are born every day it's harder to find new tricks to play when willy and nora hit parkerville the night was cold and very still old number 9 sped down the track they knew there was no turning back even the general store was closed willy sighed and rubbed his nose nora blinked and suppressed a yawn said "no use standing here, come on" should they try to peddle their wares down among the squares hiding behind their shades so drawn and their perfectly barbered cubes of lawn? over time the world had changed human mores had been rearranged people hardly walked the streets but had become much more discreet all the streets were now main there was one big central brain almost nothing left residual of a standup individual the time had passed for talk willy sat down on the sidewalk nora squinted with her weak sight and said "i think i see a light" they had been down this road before from shore to shining shore from malibu to plymouth rock it was time to see old doc every town has an old doc don't act shocked every tribe in the bush has one ever since the world begun but although they are all brothers some old docs are worse than others some have just the thing you need others only have their greed some are worth their humble pay and send you happily on your way others, fortunately not so often will drive the last nail in your coffin the town in which our tale commences was hidden behind white picket fences willy and nora passed whole streets by without attracting a single eye where was old doc? a distant steeple clock mocked their desperate hopes they were on the ropes the whole world was asleep time on its serpent skin did creep it was different from times past they had come to the end at last the old laws no longer applied they were being taken for a ride the light that nora thought she saw was brushed aside by midnight’s paw yes, old doc was there for sure but no longer dispensing cure his withered carcass could be found six feet under the ground on his stone was this inscription - he has written his last prescription for fifty years he filled the scores but they don’t write them like this any more