he sits with his head in his hands
his feet sunk into the sand
the sky turns grey above him;
he shows no sign of being alive.
But what can a boy do? The day the world went wrong
he was in the front row.
What must he go through to pay, to pay?
Well, he don’t know
Maria was his sweetness, his light
his redress, his night, his day
they rented a flat together and shared the summers
in their hideaway.
All he needed was her cheek pressed to his
and his world was calm.
He could almost weep
watching her sleeping
in the circle
of his arms.

There was one day they woke up early
and the dawn was splashed with gold.
Maria jumped up and wanted to walk in the morning cold
so they left, undressed
and stepped outside
strode the avenues
nude and giggling
unashamed, and unafraid of any truths
the universe may cast their way,
whatever time may bring
they danced among the city greys and
then he heard her sing…

Won’t you follow me
And find a space a little closer to the sea
To float away away away
Today today today today…

But then the seasons spun
The weakened sun began to fade
with such freedoms come poverty
and food has to be paid for.
Maria was too much a wild child to work for living
so it was he who went out chasing papers, while she chased her visions.
Imprisoned in suits and ties and factory uniforms
he slaved to pay for them both, dawn through to dawn
through to dusk. Resentment cultivated into mistrust
in his mind, and nothing hits us like a kiss does
when there’s very little love left within it
and workaday stress had stretched his love to its limits,
Money makes money, somebody said
but the money he made barely bought bread
for the table, and when you watch the weeks tick away
and the clock on the factory wall steals the day
and all that’s left you is the grey of twilight
and the long tired nights
there’s got to be a point
when your fire dies.
His was fading fast;
no number of Maria’s laughs could warm him
someone should have warned him
even a crack in the design can let a storm in
and the architecture of their love
was looking worn thin.
A smile, a worried glance, an angry thought.
A fumbled coffee cup, a slap, a slammed door
She wanted to make love
He needed to sleep
She wanted to talk
He thought she thought too deep
When she sang

Won’t you follow me
And find a space a little closer to the sea
To float away away away
Today today today today…

and to his mind it seemed that
Maria’d lost her rhyme and her reason
in her drinking and daydreaming.
Sick of coming home to the mess she made with
scattered sculptures, and fragments of scribbled pages
she called it art-
he called her from work and said he’d be home late.
Needed some of his own space
needed a drink. He went with a couple of work mates
to a bar just opened close to the factory gates.
and his mates were chatting about these women they find fit
saying they wouldn’t mind a bit of it
considering
and in the midst of it
our friend was drunken-hypnotised
by this blonde bit of skirt
with cute little eyes
that flickered like the serpent’s tongue
blatantly flirting
he thought, just what i need after a week’s working
and
one drink leads to another thing
he finds himself pressed against the barside fumbling
with this blonde bird
mumbling something about
going back to hers
and before he knows
she’s pulling off her skirt.

three hours later
it was long done and over
in his sleep, becoming
just a little more sobre
he was locked within a dark dream
in his imagining
he was scrabbling to find Maria
but she kept vanishing
he woke, cold and shaking
in a sudden sweat
driven by fear, he rushed to gather up
his stuff and left

running with his head spinning
his tongue raw
running through the streets that had been theirs
the summer before
he reached the door of the flat and tiptoed in
hoping to find his lover there, soft and dozing
but there was no lover, no sound
no smiles
just Maria’s artwork, stacked
in neat little piles.

He burst into the bedroom
but she wasn’t there
just a rumpled pillow
and a strand of her hair.
And a note
where she would have laid her head
and the moment that he saw it
he knew that she was dead.
It read

Won’t you follow me?
And find a space a little closer to the sea
To float away away away
Today today today today…

And everything must die
No sooner dry than we are taken by the tide
And float away away away
So very little time to play