We met by chance on the row riverside
Our salt fire danced as our tea leaves dried
She hatched our plans in the atmospheric tide
Said, “Let's give up, sacrifice next lentâ€
(Well that joke's long since been spent)
And the fool on the bagpipes played
We kept cool in the parasol shade
Your thumb on my page at my tender age
East enders wives
Then hidden in the boxthorn vine
We grew old as the foxtail pine
Sheep in the fold, gilding our gold
Sipping our milk and water lives
We packed our bags some arbitrary time
By the time he wakes up I'll be gone
Then wave like a flag from the White Star Line
We planned our next stop I'll be gone
Unmoored, unwell, though I seldom elegize
You still see who I once was
We've both been untrue, but I'm still counting on you
Like an invisible rosary
And as the past and all plans are undone
Slowly sank like a shipwrecked sun
Bridges and boats, burning them both
Burned up the sky
Wires sang as the black birch fell
Sorrow rang like a churchyard bell
An ax to the trees, smoke for the bees
And all our dads died