i don’t think i could have been old enough
to be the equal of you in our younger days
to the fullness of all our summers i lived
i know you have tried to remember them all

and of course we could never have been forever
here merely for the term of our natural lives
the naïve hope was to simply not die
how’s not to reason why

for as long as i shadow here at your side
your regret will be the coma of our dreaming
and that blanket of night will not cover you
because all you will feel is the ache of now

love is a beautiful hideous thing
i miss you my dear, and thank you for trying
if you could you’d kick the whole damn sky in
i’m nowhere forever though you’re haunted more
grief is a beautiful hideous thing
miss you my dear, and screw me for dying
but things will work out tomorrow somehow
you’ll smile again in the field of reeds at morningside

we thought we held all the keys didn’t we
to lock all the doors to mutual oblivion
but no matter how far and vain you wander
in this hall of echoes you’ll never find me

and of course you remain to remember now
how we railed at the stalking geist of death
though i wish i had not crumbled, dear
you shouldn’t long to have died with me

and you’re old enough now to be scared of forgetting
but the end, as we’ve seen, is a broad church
and the road there an arduous song
so resign yourself to the sunshine my dear (i won’t mind)

love is a beautiful hideous thing
miss you my dear, and screw me for flying
if i could i’d kick the whole damn sky in
i’m nowhere forever and joy will return
grief is a beautiful hideous thing
miss you my dear, and thank you for crying
but things will work out tomorrow somehow
you’ll smile again in the sunshine at morningside

by TONY SINGLE
© All rights reserved 2021