On a pillow of paper memories

He rests his head in slumber

As he hears the wind whisper

‘An old man weeps, an old man bleeds

To harvest love he’d sowed the seeds

Blood and tears for the nothing years

When nothing grew but thorns and weeds’

He awakens at the table

And he sees the faded mail

His mind swoops back in time

A padded cell, a racking wail

‘He was ever my true friend

‘Til that awful twist of fate

As infamy and madness

Left him in a sorry state

His spirit had been broken

And by then it was too late’

He feels teardrops in his eyes

As he sniffs the perfumed sheet

His mind swoops back in time

A wedding gown, a bridal suite

And to an orchestra of love

We did dance and celebrate

A symphony of gladness

With an undertone of hate

When I heard the requiem

I realised it was too late’

His eyes narrow as he sees

The buff envelope still sealed

His mind swoops back in time

A muddy trench, a foreign field

‘We took arms and went to war

With our cause to vindicate

An infantry of brashness

And a brotherhood of fate

We went on to face defeat

And by then it was too late’

He shoves aside the paper

A splinter spears his thumb

His mind goes back in time

A lonely boy, a dismal slum

‘This was my living hell

Beneath that cellar grate

An infancy of sadness

With naught to mitigate

I went on to cherish freedom

But by then it was too late’

On the pebbled floor he sees

A stain of blood and tears

His mind drifts back in time

Faceless people, wasted years

‘And such has been my life

In which I struggled to relate

An epiphany of darkness

My ideals did decimate

I should have done much more

But by now its far too late’

And he rests his head in slumber

As he hears the wind whisper

 ‘Old men bleed and old men cry

They fear the time that’s passing by

Blood and tears for the living years

When living dreams fade out and die’

On a pillow of paper memories