full stop

keenan, david

i remember you standing at the back doorstep

in your mother's apron

a new day's sun hit the side of your face

illuminating the split ends of your hair

breakfast was cooking in the kitchen

as i read a dead poet's words in the garden

and i'd never seen you so beautiful before

last night's love still clinging to your skin

hair unbrushed

one bare foot on the other

class personified in the oxfam dress

holiest of shows i'd seen

come back to me now in waking dream

won't you?

come back to me now in waking dream

won't you?

come back to me now in waking dream

stand beside me when all the buses have stopped

and lollypop ladies have drawn their last drag

when the debutante queen's been reduced to a hag

it is you and only you

full stop

it is you and only you

full stop

holy laughter in the phosphorus morning

eternally young

old age never deserving

it is you and only you

full stop

it is you and only you

when the strung-out ghosts of boredom

come screaming from the pit

i will take your ear lobe gently between my teeth

i'll stand guard outside your door

while you starve yourself of sleep

it is you and only you

full stop

it is you and only you

full stop

pour your tears into my mouth

take this gift of quiet love

plant a kiss upon my neck

as i reach down to tie your laces

think of our children's children's children

and the shape of their faces

it is you and only you

full stop

it is you and only you

our well-worn names

they shall live on in mind and in myth

and in the skipping rope games of little gypsy girls

around their campfires in the country

and their song like prayers

and in the whisperings of young cousins sat on rotting stairs

it is you and only you

full stop

it is you and only you

as the hands begin to spin within the clocks

while the dealers selling dreams bag up their stock

so i climb and search for answers in the rock

to a sermon on the mount where the masses flock

when they get bored and disappear inside to window shop

it is you and only you

full stop

it is you and only you

full stop