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(For B.W as a memory of what once was”)
(For loves affliction,
Its rose forever shornî
Must thru love
Be born
Ere the fragrance
Of itself
Blooms a thorn
& Scorns
The gentle petal
Of its birth)
Anonymous
(I)
What was that song
That you were singing?
Oh
What was that crying song?
There
In the garden,
In the house
By the sea
As we sat, of an evening
I, in the sunlight,
You, in the rain?
Oh
What was that crying song?
And I thought to myself that oh
Love
Must be like a train
That travels at night
To say Oh
Czechoslovakia!
Because of the way
You treated me
, Yes it must be like a train
To say Czechoslovakia!
The way I treated you!
What was that sigh I heard
There in the garden?
There where the bushes touched the wind?
Was it a brushing sound of wings, I heard?
There in the clouds
High above the trees?
Oh and I thought
To myself
That Oh love
Must be like a train to, say Czechoslovakia
Because it was true,
That you treated
Yourself that way
Yes Oh, love must be
Like a train travelling
To a nameless country
Oh say,
What was that sob I heard
In the night? Lost to the
Rain and the wind,
Was it our song?
Confused as I was by the rain
& The storm
As you sat in the kitchen,
Alone
In that house by the sea
Was it our unborn song?
(2)
That last night I saw you
You were innocent again
You said because
You remembered and knew
And I drank to my life
Like bitter black coffee
Renewing my guilty bonds.
And I said to you
That love was illusion
And you said
Why then
“ So all of life
Must be!”
Like those sunflowers
That burst
That grew in our garden
In that empty house
By the sea
And that boat that came
And carried us out
To that far
And distant land
That came to you
And came to me
And carried out us
To the sea
But what was that song again
That you were singing?
Unborn and beautiful
It seemed, to me
More beautiful
Because it was unborn
Like all unborn things
More beautiful
Than the changing sea…
Oh darlng what was that crying song?
Oh darling what was that crying song?
Oh for you I wished a garland of roses
Oh for I wished a warming hearth
And a home
For you and me
And for you
I wished
Bright bright sunlight,
And the still clear waters,
That free Love’s pain
But tears had to come
If the heart is to open
As the sunlight
Must follow the rain
And Thorns must hide
In the bright heart of a rose
As a dark road
That leads us away!
(3)
Some birds now sing in the garden
Parrots and a few finches too
And the sunlight this morning
Is so strong, bright and bitter
As the night rain was hard
When it rained
Oh and I think to myself
How strange it must be
To think that it all has to end
& That love must be like train
To oh Czechoslovakia
Because we treated
Ourselves
That way
That last night we sat
At the back
Of the garden
Renewing our guilty bonds
And drank out our life
Like bitter black wine}
And you sat
In the sunlight
(And I in the rain)
And I thought that I heard you
Singing
Again
Oh how I wished you an open heart
Undisturbed by the crashing rain
How I wished you
Sunlight and the still clear waters
Oh how
I wished you rivers of light
And a heart
That was pure and so true
But what was that
Unborn song
You were singing?
Oh, what was that crying song?
While we sat in the garden
You in the sunlight
And me
In the rain?
Nick Mancuso
In memory
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