"You know,
I used to ask myself the same questions,"
said the old man
with a smile.

A scientist
on TV
was watching an abandoned bear cub
search for its mother.

The scientist knew
where the cub's mother was.

"I'm not sure
how much I should intervene,"
he agonised,
"or whether I should just
let Nature take its course."

As if
his kindest instincts
and his burning desire
and ability to help
were not some of Nature's
most glorious bits of work.

No-one told the snowdrops
that the world is coming to an end
that there is no sense in trying anymore
that darkness has finally defeated the light

And ignorant of the truth
they push once more
through the mould and grit
raising their heads above ground

Stopping me in my tracks.

Oh yes!  Things used to live here!
The wan Scottish sun used to warm us
and the endless pounding rain slaked thirst
and pumped like blood into new life and hope.
How did we forget?

And they change everything.
They change everything.
They return the world to the state they need it to be in,
they are nodding heralds of the coming supernova

which will happen
with us
or
without us.

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.