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Fergus Allen

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Grinzing

I think, uh, I think it’s – if I knew how to start –
But I have, had, well yes have, it’s eating me up,
To do with your, our, the space between us these days,
It’s not easy to say this, uh, say it with people
In the corner looking over (please nod and smile
If you follow me) what I mean is in some ways

Things, you could uh, make believe they’re the same as ever,
I can’t find the words, the quite right words, but you know,
I’m sure you’ve uh, guessed what I’m – oh it’s something new.
Last week when we were dancing, danced, you wore the velvet
And the steps were the old steps, not what they do now,
Black velvet, or was it damson, or navy blue,
 
But soft, it was the touch, feel, coming through my fingers
And our bodies remembering familiar programmes,
Yes we’ll have, yes, another carafe of the red,
But it wasn’t the same, not the same, not like Grinzing
And you never looked into my, no you, uh, looked
Over my shoulder, if it was something I said,

And it’s true I can – oh, but that’s not what it is,
Is it, it’s that cousin of yours I caught a glimpse of
Beside you in the Augustinerkirche, calm
But getting ready to pounce, just when I turned up
Without warning and late for the Mozart Requiem
And Hübner’s setting of the, uh, Ninetieth Psalm.

 

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