When I was a boy I was quick but I lived in dreams,
Of Kukri knives, transistor radios, and gaucho boots,
Cat whiskers, secret potions, and Sergeant Preston,
Fresh ironed shirts,
And a gun that shoots
Now I’m ancient, I move so slow,
My memory is a stranger,
Who follows everywhere I go.
I tried to get away,
But I fell down fast,
As the wind filled my head
With these loving voices from the past.
They sang oh oh oh
There were Christmas songs
With the scent of Jesus
On the straw, in the cold.
Snowbells rise
Beside the driveway
Where the Prince of Night’s last story will be told.
Oh, oh, oh
I do remember
We all forget
The silent breath
The cigarette
The smoke, the ashes,
The numbing chill.
The kitten purring through this darkness we will never fill.
When you called my name,
You knew I would not answer.
I am out on the breakwater,
Lost in the seabirds’ cries.
I saw you holding hands
With your salsa dancer,
Touching those expensive muscles,
Looking into those dark Romanian eyes.
I wandered desperately
Through the drought of your pity.
I would have traded my old soul to see
One real tear fall from your eye.
Now I’m watching a nighthawk
Swoop down over the city.
First he swallows the moon,
Then the stars,
Then the whole night sky.
Oh, oh, oh
Ah, ah, ah
Love, love, love, love.
When I was a boy, I was quick but I lived in dreams.
credits
from A Song To Deliver,
released November 4, 2022
Artwork by Gail Bradshaw