Terry & Julie -

Terry and Julie cross over the river

Gladdened again by the sight of each other

They’re famed for their simplicity

And it is their song that providence shuffles

Onto my lips between splutters and sniffles

Outstaying my welcome on the earth

Oh, what a century!

To live and reign

You kneel down to navigate

The length and the breadth of a prayer

Long have you languished in there.

Terry and Julie admire the sunset

But a song removed, it’s not quarter to one yet

Though the days pass like a second hand

Here in the front room, hooked to a contraption

You do my ablutions and block my distraction:

A grey matinée movie

Oh, what a century!

To slip one’s chain

The mother of mortals

Constant and stable and scared

Spinning the bad news she heard.

You kneel down to navigate

The lone, level sands of a prayer

But nobody’s in the know

Nobody’s in my confidence.