Be careful with her
her heart is a balloon
and it wouldn't take much to pop it, doctor
Well I wait and shiver
and I pace this sterile room
after fifty years I can't have lost her

Well I was seventeen and she was twenty four
We were at a protest march against the Korean war
I can see her with her placard held aloft
An anger hard as ice but skin so
skin so very soft

Be careful with her,
that skin is paper thin
and it wouldn't take much to tear it, doctor
Oh please deliver,
don't let this pain begin
Fifty years, I can't have lost her

We never married though our parents thought we should
We knew that you couldn't improve on anything this good
Well traditions don't seem quite so foolish now
If you know of one to save her
won't you please just tell me how?

If this is twilight
then give me darkness
for I can see too much
No-one to turn to
No-one who knows me
and no-one there
no-one there to touch

Oh be careful with her
I never cared enough, I know
I need to tell her
I'm still so much in love

An old man
sits
alone.

Day 1
               Here's a fish.  Tuck in.

                   Thanks.  That'll feed me for today!
Day 2
                Since you like fish so much, here's a fishing net.

                 Oh!  Um, you know I'm actually a farmer.

                 Not anymore.  There's uranium in your land,
                  so it's mine now.  I'd take the net if I were you.
Day 3
                When are you paying me back for that net?

                 What?  I don't have anything to pay with!

                 Well, just give me all the fish you catch.  That'll do for now.

Day 4
                   Excuse me, sorry to trouble you,
                      but I haven't anything to eat now.

                  No problem!  I'll be glad to sell you some fish.

                  But I have no money!

                    I'll lend you some.  Here you go.

Day 5  
                    I'm afraid I need to repossess that net.
                     It'll cover the money you owe me, for today.
                  
Day 6
                   You don't seem to be giving me many fish anymore.
                   Have you forgotten our deal?

                  But I have no means of catching any!

                   Well look, see your neighbour?  He seems to have plenty.
                   If you were to, ah, borrow some
                   I would turn a blind eye.

Day 7
                    My neighbour has stolen all my fish!

                    The cad!  Tell you what, I'll sell you this gun.

Days 8 - infinity

                     More of the same.

"Dad!  DAD!"
The cry shakes the night
Shakes sleep from his father's eyes,
and spirits him to his side.

Sweating and trembling the boy points
to the corner of the room.
"There," he whispers, "right there!"

The father turns, befuddled, impatient
and sees nothing.
"You're okay.  It was a bad dream.
Lie down.
Night
             night."

But it wasn't a bad dream.
In the corner of the room
is a huge, glowing
                                       egg.
Light pulses from it
in living waves,
and his father must be blind to miss it.

Night after night.
"It's nothing.
Go back to sleep."

But night after night
the egg gets bigger,
and dad
               gets
                        smaller.

"Haw!  You!  Come back here!
Dinny walk aff while ah'm talkin ti ye!
Didjiz no ken we won a fight
a mere sivvin hunner year ago?
Are ye no impressed?"

Flower o' ****** Scotland.
Fighting and dying
for a wee bit hill and glen.
When will we see the like?
Every ****** day
an' Ah'm ******* seek o't.

See when we start lovin and livin
fur a wee bit hill and glen?
Then Ah'll get tae ma feet
an sing.

The real you went walking leaving me with someone else
We sat around and chatted telling lies about ourselves
For only killing time it didn't matter what was true
As we waited for the real you

Minutes turned to hours turned to days and turned to weeks
Nothing left to say but still we felt the urge to speak
The one who took your place began to grow, she grew and grew
As we waited for the real you

The real me went looking, sadly I was left behind
To formulate opinions and pretend a state of mind
We thought of words that matter, of love and hope and trust
As we waited for the real us

So here we are and here we're wasting time on what we've lost
Our real selves a notion from a disappearing past
And even though we wouldn't know them if they ever came
We'll go on waiting for them just the same