Spent Days from Nearly Now by Jim Bryce

They ask ”Have you had a good life?” as if life was a road and not the ‪’I’
"Did you get where you wanted?" What I wanted then has died.

Oh of course I’ve got the memories that circumstance bestowed.
The days of endless travelling a figment-gravelled road.
The days when this being stood and didn’t know what to do.
But the only time I was living, I was truly here with you.

They say “You’ve done a lot man. idealised, expressed yourself”
Well, all that ’lot done’ are now remainders on an attic shelf

Oh, I know that I’ve created ..... whatever that word means.
The days spent jiggling tunes and words, the places I have seen
All islands in a twisting sea of doubt that I swum through
But the only time I was living, I was truly here with you.

Oh! The markers and signposts! Oh! The pointers and the goals!
Oh! The forwards and backwards! Words to try to ease this troubled soul.
They say, "Think of the memories, your realised schemes."
Well, I can’t live on memories or walk on feet of dreams.

Oh, of course there were the days gliding through misty might-have-beens.
The days when smiles were masking a silent empty scream
the days I threw away the gifts which came out of the blue.
But the only time I was living, I was truly here with you.

There's been days when I’ve been lonely in a crowded hall of friends.
Days of love and ecstasy, and days when I hoped would end.
Days when I thought I had something to give, but each gift felt like a lie.
But I see now I was only living in the light from each others eyes.

• Alternative
• folkish
• jazzish
• poppish
• progressive
• rockish
• singer-songwriter
• Edinburgh