back then we’d paint with sidewalk chalk
an MC Escher tabletop
invent dimensions with old blankets
brooms and pins all interlocked

if you don’t know we’ll find a way
oh we could ride bikes in the rain
and never fear, our skulls were made
from latex diamond marmalade

but table legs and chalk and bones will splinter all to dust
bruise the fruit of flesh and whisper bitter not to trust
the humble back, the hungry mouth, the figure breaking down
but tasks demand their undertaking now

but I guess that’s what you get by getting older

if I knew now what I knew then
I’d never break my back again.

we stormed the Kremlin in those days
with flags of red we parted ways
we stood outside in wind and hail
to take the stage and tell our tale

but all those things we knew were real
got left behind the steering wheels
of slick bandwagon gravy trains
and memories go numb with pain

now when we serve our guests with the expensive pottery
we speak of war and china and the bear economy,
the title deed, the law degree, the books upon the shelf,
till no ones more a stranger than ourselves.

but I guess that’s what you get by getting older

if I knew now what I knew then
I’d never cash a check again.

I remember when our hands would touch
and nothing seemed to matter much
and when I looked into your eyes
I saw all of our former lives

I loved you as a dandy-fop
as an old man in a barber shop
as a virgin on a mountain top
dance with me, we’ll never stop

though changes over lifetimes may be superficial gels
changes here from year to year detach, divorce, repel
I still remember sleeping with your chest to nest my head
now I nestle underneath the bed

but I guess that’s what you get by getting older

If I knew now what I knew then
I’d never fall in love again.