a nap

So what is going on right now then
thoughts are whirring through my head
rock's blaring from the sound system
the wine is open, husband's passed out
looking like an old man lying there
on our very ancient faded blue sofa.

I'm looking at a video of The Band
they're looking very young, very fit
if you know what I mean by that
thin scarf jauntily hung from his neck
cigarette hanging from his lip
he talks of stealing food of starving.

Of strolling on into a Wallmart somewhere
and stuffing sausages into his pocket
and walking back out with bread rolls
to make an impromptu picnic there
in the back of some rickety old bus
in an anonymous car park in the USA.

Touring might seem quite glamorous
until you've been starving out there
far from home, living on the dream
trying to break into the industry
making a big name for yourselves
becoming the famous ones some day.

But don't you sense the emptiness
the lack of a true grounding
like something has passed them by
a meaning that remains elusive
a feeling there's something missing
the core of what this is all about.

It's a circular argument, a recursion
a dream within a dream, a wish perhaps
a hope to hang on to in bleak times
an acknowledgement of the void
but hope springs eternal, and youth
which seems everlasting at the time.

But which is in fact so ephemeral
temporarily granted to the almost mature
until wisdom can overtake us with age
it tells us what exactly, that we're old
a glance in the mirror is sufficient
a look at my gentle man confirms it.

And that's what makes me smile again
the lines on his face speaking to me
of our history, of our shared past
for these lines are something we share
they came upon us whilst we were together
binding us in a shared remembering.

When you wake eventually you look for me
I am your anchor in life's stormy seas
and you are too, well you are for me
I say hello my love don't worry I'm here
and smiling into your face so familiar
my kind gentle man who's still young to me.