Youth And Art

It once might have been, once only
We lodged in a street together
You a sparrow on the housetop lonely
I, a lone she-bird of his feather

Your trade was with sticks and clay
You thumbed thrust, pattered and polished
Then laughed they will see some day
Smith made and Gibson demolished

My business was song, song, song
I chirped, cheeped, trilled and twittered
‘Kate Browns on the boards ere long,
and Grisi’s existence embittered

We studied hard in our styles
Chipped each at a crust like hindoos
For air looked at the tiles
For fun watched each others windows

Uh-huh-uh-huh-uh-huh
you shook your notes and sat in smoke
gossiped about who was in love with who
gave a nasty little speech about my beautiful boy
kept me on my toes like it was condition one
don’t forget people remember
you got the letter
return to sender

and I – soon managed to find
weak points in the flower – fencing facing
was forced to put up a blind
and be safe in my corset lacing

why did you not pinch a flower
in a pellet of clay and fling it?
why did not I put a power
of thanks in a look, or sing it?

I did look sharp as a lynx
(and yet the memory rankles)
when some models arrived, some minx
tripped up stairs, she and her ankles

What ever happened to that kid who saw colours?
Who spoke in a dream about her power creatures?
There was a secret now pass it on
There will surely be a time for you to pass it on
No grudges, no life coaches
No books on diets and doses
You know you’ve changed
Not for the better
You know you’ve changed
But not for the worse
don’t forget people remember
you got the letter
return to sender

Each life unfulfilled you see
It hangs still patchy and scrappy
We have not sighed deep, laughed free
Starved, feasted, despaired, been happy

And nobody calls you a dunce
And people suppose me clever
This could have happened once
And we missed it, lost forever