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Sharon

We slept in your bed together many times that summer

Your boyfriend must have thought it odd

There was never any question of anything happening between us

We were in the prime of our youth

Exploring new freedoms

Drinking pints around Killarney in Mustang Sallys and Scruffys, Kielys and the Danny Man

Scoffing Potato Bites late at night in the Allegro

We smoked each other’s cigarettes

You made me feel like it was ok to be me

You told me of a world where it was cool to be gay!

 

You were wilder than me

We came from very different backgrounds

We just had that summer

We were forever friends

I haven’t seen you for maybe twenty five years

 

You married that boyfriend and had a scatter of kids for him

I found a world where it was cool to be gay

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Treasure

I found a great treasure buried in a field

I sold everything that belonged to me

I bought that field and the treasure it contained

Then I went out and gave it away

 

I gave it away

I gave it away

The treasure I found

Deep in the clay

On every street in every town

I gave it away

The treasure I found

 

They laughed at me

They said what a fool

He’s putting his trust in a two- legged stool

They laughed at me but I never dismayed

I got heaps more back than I gave away

 

I have no home

I have no kin

The fox has a hole

The lion has a den

I found a great treasure buried in a field

I sold everything and got all that I need

 

Space and time

The evening slipped away

The day goes so fast

It’s bed time now but

I want to stay up and play music

 

It feels like my earthly life is slipping away fast too

Eventually I won’t be here at all

I will have left some poems and songs that may be remembered for a time

 

My body will sink into the earth

Nourishing the organisms that thrive on such delights 

 

My soul will probably spend eternity 

Hanging around gay bars and churches

Woods and beaches

And the home where I spent my childhood

I will no doubt frequent also the school I went to as a boy

I will surely catch up with some old friends there

 

I imagine I will go to lots of concerts

Finally get to see Bob Dylan

If he is still doing gigs

 

There’s a lot of people places and things I hope to enjoy then

Beyond the limits of space and time

 

For now, I must go to bed

I need sleep to get me through tomorrow

Bob Dylan says that sleep is like a temporary death

I try to get 8 hours…