Take my innocence on a tuppenny bus ride,

Show it the breeze and the night.

Pay its fare, sit it at the front,

And answer all those silly little questions,

It is wont to ask.

-o0o-

Throw my pasty faced incredulity,

Overboard,

And watch it drift like ash over the waiting queues.

Let it go, wave it goodbye,

And don’t let a soul ever tell you,

The journey was wasted.

-o0o-

Wrap my wounded love in oilcloth,

And put it back in the box.

It’ll squeak a bit,

And sections,

May well fall off.

But remember,

As you condescendingly gaze at its foolishness,

Once, it was real.