And he saw it now and then
the lamp lit row of houses that
stretched beyond the eye
houses where men who dug black
slept and drank when they could

ageless cobbles pried on
men who fought in the street
over want, women and work
while little men sons played
foolish games of childhood

daughter women with prams
mothered their plastic dolls
and the wives gossiped about
young Sally who had a belly
by John Stout the butcher boy

the reverend Ellis knew
all the stories and chapters
of life in this coal dust street
he birthed them baptised them
married and buried them

and the street was quiet
no vehement voices tonight
as the deed of death
slipped over the cobbles
and gripped a sleeping soul.

Love and paradise
met in the red room
when starlight sang
the waltz of time

the night was set
a million years ago
when warmth and affection
were brightly born

"softly" said love
to the rim of pleasure
as they danced
serenaded by a trillion stars

"when we are old
let men say
love and paradise
came one night
and left us joy"

And the farm endured
seven fields to forty acres
the days of my father
saw grass and crops rotate
his toiling obsession now spent
gave way to a bigger scale

the old house storeyed
by one and a half
the bedroom where I slept
in the shadow of an older brother

the roof of grey slate
the peak of my world
reached my childhood sky

the overgrown garden
the consequence of labours elsewhere
the sycamore tree
my view of a world outside

And the farm endured
seven fields to forty acres
the days of my father
saw grass and crops rotate
his toiling obsession now spent
gave way to a bigger scale

the old house storeyed
by one and a half
the bedroom where I slept
in the shadow of an older brother

the roof of grey slate
the peak of my world
reached my childhood sky

the overgrown garden
the consequence of labours elsewhere
the sycamore tree
my view of a world outside
the patch of monkshood remained
where I trapped bees in a jar
the fuchsia bush with flowers to pick
and **** nectar from within

the old dirt track road
the start of a jouney far beyond
the realm of a farm
and the dreams of a boy

Summer solstice in the park
our icon twanged guitar
the smell of favoured fast food
hashish from near and far

there you were beside me
the lover I once knew
utopian as love's partner
each colour with its hue

the memory of you lingers
that warm and sultry day
beamed that face of sunshine
and body ****** sway

ah youth in love the wonder
so blind and yet so true
inexperienced emotions
feelings some may rue

love is quite quixotic
except for faithful few
over ere you know it
and we must start anew