You Knew Me When...

So if the world must come apart, and all the fragments fly,
I wish I'd seen your pretty face and heard you ask me why.
Tomorrow or another day at last will bring the end,
and it's my inmost pride to say that you, dear, were my friend.

You knew me in the morning and you sang your girlish song,
and as you danced between the trees I felt there was no wrong.
I was a silly boy, you know, and made you laugh all day,
and music on the air and laughs were all the wind would say.

You knew me as the day grew hot, although we grew apart;
I hid myself in numbers and you showed yourself in art.
I watched you from my distance and I wished that we might meet,
and you danced all the evening long like rippling fields of wheat.

You knew me when the noontime sun shone down upon the land.
I ground my teeth to see that fellow take you by the hand.
He kissed your lips and called you dear and made you his, that May,
and though that summer swelled so bright, all I could see was gray.

You knew me in the afternoon, and gave your boy my name,
and once or twice the neighbors said we looked a bit the same.
But no one ever thought a thing, so never think of that,
and if we've any secrets we'll just sweep them 'neath the mat.

You knew me when the shadows grew, and winter came to chill.
I saw your little trio go a-sledding on the hill.
We'll never know just what it was, what rail or drift was tossed,
but I recall the accident when boy and man were lost.

You knew me when the nighttime came, when we were grown so old;
we huddled close together then, as all the earth grew cold.
And when you passed on in the night my soul began to weep,
but soon I know I'll follow you into that final sleep.

So if the world must come apart, and all the fragments fly,
I wish I'd seen your pretty face and heard you ask me why.
Tomorrow or another day at last will bring the end,
and it's my inmost pride to say that you, dear, were my friend.

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(Photo credit: "Freedom" from Lauren McKinnon on Flickr)