Sand And Stone Poem by jim hogg

I

I saw you in a magazine
Pouring tea for the elderly
Juggling snowballs by the Tweed
And running miles for charity

Your hair was brown and curly still
Falling just like it used to do
When we climbed the rolling hill
In spring way back in sev'nty two

Winter winds and summer haze,
looking out to sea
‘cross that high-way of our lives,
all that gravity
All that ebb and flow,
across the sand and stone
We will not make it home again
to share the salty wind
To hold each other just once more,
to meet along the shore

II

And once again I held your hand
Where even time has no command
And all these songs I write for you
Fall so far short of what was true

And though I see you on the page
You're still alive inside of me
Like some weapon blind to age
A field of blooms, a mystery

Autumn gales and springtime rain,
looking out to sea
‘cross that high-way of our dreams,
all that destiny.
All that ebb and flow,
across the flesh and bone
We will not make it home again
to share one salty kiss
To talk once more of time and chance,
to dance one final dance.

III

All that time beneath the sun
Holding you, not holding you
Running where all rivers run
What once was free, and once was new,
What once was me, and once was you

Teenage dreams and tender wings,
falling into you
We were only passing through
something that was true
Something more than words
and more than we could hold
We will not make it home again
but you and I had time
For touching souls and dancing slow
beside the sand and stone


23 03 11