Do you remember me?

The boy whom you loved
In that world where you walked
And clicked your heels?

The youth who had grown
Into manhood
Whilst you explored another land?

The young man from whom you recoiled
With anger and spite
When he moved you aside?

The brother who stood by your bed
And witnessed the beginning
And the end?

I am the keeper of the flame
In my heart which flickers
Still.
Until,
My beginning,
My end.

I remember you.
Do you remember me?

When I saw you yesterday,
You smiled at me
And, in that moment,
I knew the secret of life.

You were saying in that smile,
It is my turn now,
I am going to carry on
What others before have done.

I saw in your eyes
The sight of ancient times;
People I did not know
As well as those whom I loved.

It was strange
To see such faces
In the eyes of one so young.
It was a thing of wonder,
Like a beautiful song.

Your mummy will sing to you
As I sang to her.
She will talk to you
As I talked to her.

She will impart tales of times gone by
And she will speak the names
Of people you will never know
But you will take these forward.

Then one day you will look
Into the eyes of your child
And you will see what I saw yesterday,
When you smiled at me.

"When shall we stop looking at women?"
Asked my friend.
As another came into view,
I hoped
That we had not stared
Too much, too long, too anything.
Educated, sincere, honest,
No-one should vilify his roving eye.
Later, as we sat eating,
The beauty parade continued;
We were polite, gracious, complimentary.
I walked through the tables,
The thin waitress caught my eye - the other one -
I returned her smile.
We left for home, my friend and I
To take to our beds,
Each of us alone,
Without enjoying the touch of another's flesh
Words of innocence,
A song of joy.
We had come into the world with nothing,
Only to lose everything.
"The day we die" I replied.

I cast off my clothes, as he had asked,
And stood against the tree nearby.
I bent my head as he demanded
And the river, well the river ran by.

I brushed my skin and looked into the sun
I waited patiently, stared him in the eye.
Voices from surrounding hills faded away
And the river, well the river ran by.

After it was over, I picked up my shirt
It was cold and wet, I don’t know why.
The insects danced in drunken delight.
And the river, well the river ran by.

We walked on through the grass and the ****.
The music in my head caused me to cry
He did not notice. Perhaps he did not care.
And the river, well the river ran by.

I ****** in the water and he looked surprised
The wild sheep grazing, seemed almost shy.
A rotting skull crumbled into the earth.
And the river, well, the river ran by


Afterwards, he left me alone and drove away,
He shook my hand and said goodbye.
I never saw him again, my friend.
And the river, well the river ran dry.

What is love, my love?
The kiss in the morning, the last touch at the end of the day,
The liberation of our thoughts, the words we do not say.

What is love, our love?
Letting go and turning away head to the wall,
Confusion, anger, spite, laughter, that is all.

What is love. Their love?
Walking alone but thinking only of her,
Thinking only of him; the loneliness a blur.

What is love, my love?
You, you are my love, my isolation, my fear;
No longer a blink, a silence, a tear.

And when they ask us,
And they are certainly going to ask us,
Why did we love, my love, what shall we say?
That was before, this is today?
No, we shall walk each of us into the shadow of the band
And dance slowly, gloriously until we can no longer stand.
That is what is love, my love.