The River

When I was 10 years old I always needed to be told

That I should not be frightened by the fact that we grow old

But as the days slipped by I felt the pressing need to cry

And I quickly understood exactly why they'd had to lie

In the daylight I could cope, because the sun seemed full of hope

I laughed enough for two grown men and learnt I could tell jokes

But sadness has a subtle face and then it came to gloat

We heard about the girl and boy hung by their skipping rope

Isn't it too hard to conceive

Doesn't it bring you to your knees?

And all I want to do

is to float with the river so free.

Now, fear is not a gentle thing although it has no fists

It crawls down from your thoughts and ties you by your skinny wrists

Death will take your lips from you so that you cannot kiss

But fear will leave you screaming out for all the love you'll miss

And I had a friend who thought he knew exactly where he stood

A place in heaven's safe for him as long as he did good

But life and love ran through his veins and opened up his mind

Now he's got his gun but a new terror sings at night

Isn't it too hard to conceive

Doesn't it bring you to your knees

And all I want to do is to float with the river so free

And Larkin is the master in this poetry of fear

But he could never capture what cried darkly in his ears

And he would understand that though I wrote these words to sing

These petty verses cannot hope to tell you anything

Isn't it too hard to conceive

Doesn't it bring you to your knees

And all I want to do is to float with the river so free

So everyday I'll stop these thoughts before they'll take a hold

Lying in my bed pretending that I won't grow old

And maybe when I'm 84 I'll sit and sing this song

Just hope that if I do then this fear is dead and gone

Isn't it too hard to conceive

Doesn't it bring you to your knees

And all I want to do is to float with the river so free