LEAVING .. .

Introduction:

I wrote this piece in 1990 to describe the feeling that everything is moving away from us, everything is in retreat.

The ‘Expanding Universe’ or at least the theory of  ‘Blue Shift’ indicates that at least by stealth everything is in retreat.

Things and people come into your life and depart. There seems no loyalty, nothing is stable or stays the same. All is transient, everything is leaving and so are we.

 

Leaving

Leaving

   I have always been leaving

   Leaving it all behind

For me it was in ’66 I left my school

   In ’61 Mr. Weston and the cubs

   Messrs. Winmill and Vincent in 1967

All this makes no sense at all

   To you reader

   Though inquisitive you may be

For it was in 1970 I left Grestock and Marsh

   and in 1971 me’ mum for a bit

   I wanted to grow, I needed freedom

Leaving

Leaving it all behind

For it was these friends I left behind

   These thoughts and dreams

   These various times

Job, prospects, lasses, lads

   All it appeared were just fads

     I was requested to stay …

     My prospects heightened

     This restlessness grew …

     As the nooses tightened

For it was in 1971 I left John Perring

   and in ’76 the NHS and all that meant

   and in ’77 it was Cheam

   with all our money spent

Leaving it all behind

For it was in ’51, of course, I left the womb

   and at 5 I left hearth for school

Later in 1967, it was Carshalton College of F.E.

I think I have always been leaving

I left my friend Ian as I answered the mantra call

   And at times it was Steve

   as we both sought to breath

Then, there was Janice, Elaine, Allison, Penny

   Sue’s two, Linda’s three, Stephanie and Lesley

   Then in ’70, it happened to me

     Left, after leaving, I certainly was free

   This leaving can be painful

   As you can see

For it was in ’84 we left the ‘smoke’

   The folk and flock of Nor-bur-‘ee’ SW16

   Both friends, customers, and spectres

     We swept the floors

     and shut the doors

     and said ‘gb’ to 1458

Then it was, of course, we

   who were leaving

   We’ve done our share of leaving

Lambton Road and Parchmore Road together

   Kingsdown, Lewis, and Kingsdown

   That was three for me

Yes, here it was us who were always leaving

   As our love, our friendship was teething

For it was in 1984 I left ‘you’ for a time

   We ached and hurt and pined

   and caught ‘shingle-pox’ together

Other times we had to leave each other

   At bus-stop, front door crises

   As we fought the pressure

I think I have always been leaving

   Ambitions, hopes, dreams

   Like mountains and hills

     Rivers and streams

Landmarks upon my mind

   As I have walked this personal line

   and freedom to find

For it was in ’72 I left the world

   Leaving the club was not that painful

   What was painful though was leaving Tate Road

The Pentecostals, Baptists, the Anglican Tradition ~

   We’ve left them all from time to time

Leaving,    leaving,    leaving

   Leaving it all behind

And then in ’88, a joint decision I know

   We left a freedom that didn’t show

   Yes, we’ve always been leaving

I suppose we will always be leaving

   Leaving it all behind

..

writtenbyedenbrayJanuary90