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, I quickly understood exactly Why they’d had to lie.
In the daylight, I could cope Because the sun seemed full of hope, And I laughed enough for two grown men And learned I could tell jokes.
But sadness has a subtle face And in 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 through 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 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 take a hold, Lie here 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 that then This fear is dead and gone.