The last kindly act

They come to me disfigured and
beyond a doctors care,
or aged beyond the skill of
any surgeon to repair
With tired eyes and sagging skin
and lacking muscle tone,
and it's my job to restore them to
the paragons once known.
It's not for them I do this, as
they're not the ones that ask.
It's parents, children, others who
leave me this gentle task.
It's not their pride or vanity
that brings them down to me
but the love of those around them
who want the world to see
that though the spark of life has gone,
thanks to my art and skill,
they're lying in their coffins but
they could be sleeping still.

Tis better to have loved

'Tis better to have loved and lost
than never to have loved at all.
These are the words of Tennyson
and to my broken heart they call.
For lost is what you are to me
and all my life's ambitions pall
as dust to dust is spoken o'er
and winter's night begins to fall.

But after winter comes a spring
and sun returns day after day.
The sap will rise and birds will sing
no matter what I do or say.
And as the days and weeks and years
go by, my memory will say
"We had good times", and soon the tears
will wash the misery away.

My life must come to its own end
some day, the curtain has to fall.
The river Jordan must be crossed
and verdict giv'n in judgement hall.
No matter how the dice are tossed
I'll take what comes and then recall
Tis better to have loved and lost
than never to have loved at all.

Together

They're holding hands as they walk along
Like love's young dream from a silly song
Their eyesight's weak but their love is strong
And they've had sixty years together.

They walked and wooed and wedded fast
Their friends all said it couldn't last
But they've proved them wrong as lifetimes passed
And they've had sixty years together.

They walk their path upon this earth
form parent's death to children's birth.
They cry their sorrow and laugh their mirth
And they've had sixty years together.

She walks alone on silver sand
He went ahead to the promised land.
Still in her heart he holds her hand
as they had sixty years together.




Holding hands for sixty years
Sharing joys and sharing tears
Memories for souvenirs
of sixty years together

Hooked

Though true love strikes
sometimes the hook comes free
so cast again
there's more fish in the sea.

and should you catch,
your fish is sure to fight
against the pain
of true love at first bite

so get a grip
don't let your passions flag
until at last
true love is in the bag.

Platforms

Platform one a vale of tears
of couples riven by goodbyes
the claret stain of broken hearts
washed clean by tears from bloodshot eyes

Travelling-far travelling-far
Cardiac beat of the railroad car
Hitch your coach to the morning star
Travelling-far travelling-far

Platform two a joyful crowd
well met and reunited here
the prodigal returning, vowed
to never leave his near and dear

Travelling-far travelling-far
Cardiac beat of the railroad car
Hitch your coach to the morning star
Travelling-far travelling-far

Platform three for stepping out
the first step on adventure bound
with heads held high no room for doubt
with world striding ambition crowned

Travelling-far travelling-far
Cardiac beat of the railroad car
Hitch your coach to the morning star
Travelling-far travelling-far

Platform four and feeling down
the wage slaves on their daily train
dragged unwilling into town
and dragged unwilling back again

Travelling-far travelling-far
Cardiac beat of the railroad car
Hitch your coach to the morning star
Travelling-far travelling-far

Platform five for coming home
the journey that we like the best
the voyage o'er no more to roam
and in the family's heart to rest

Travelling-far travelling-far
Cardiac beat of the railroad car
Hitch your coach to the morning star
Travelling-far travelling-far

She walks in beauty

She walks in beauty through my days
and as she walks the sunlight plays
on satin skin and sets ablaze
a flame within my heart that stays.

She walks in beauty through my nights
with beauty that outshines the lights
of moon and stars and reunites
my soul with heavenly delights.

She walks in beauty through my dreams
where all my most romantic schemes
succeeded and my diamond gleams
on her left hand - or so it seems.

She walks in beauty through my life
and leaves behind a trail of strife.
The truth that cuts me like a knife.
That she is someone else's wife.




With thanks to Lord Byron for the theme.

My other half

You know I sigh for you
I even cry for you
Sometimes I pray to God up in the sky for you

          Cause you're the one for me
          The other half of me
          You are the other half that makes the whole of me

My heart I give for you
My life I live for you
All your bad habits I'd gladly forgive for you

          Cause you're the one for me
          The other half of me
          You are the other half that makes the whole of me

So I would fly for you
So very high for you
All earthly bonds of gravity untie for you

          Cause you're the one for me
          The other half of me
          You are the other half that makes the whole of me
          You are the better half that makes the best of me

She walks in beauty (snippet)

She walks in beauty through my days
and as she walks the sunlight plays
on satin skin and sets ablaze
a fire within my heart that says...

That I will love her all my life,
Though she is someone else's wife.

Bereft

His side of the bed is empty and cold
Our married life only fourteen days old
The man that I worshipped and honoured is gone
The warm nght is over, cold day stretches on.

Bereft, I am lost, don't know what to do
Feel thrown away like a discarded shoe
Entirely alone and hurt by the quirk
of fortune that means that my husband must work.

I know where he's gone and why he must go
but without him I'm empty and waiting, and so
I curse every sunrise and all that it brings
and pray for the evening when my heart sings.