past times

I used to go to a sweet shop
Some kids wanted a gob stopper
I just wanted to chew
I used to, I used to

I used to have the sweetshop blues
I used to I used to
All the candies there from which to choose
I used to I used to
The penny sweet, cola bottles
Sour lemon drops
Some kids want a gob stopper
I used to want to chew
Gum,

I bought the cards and rolled out the strawberry chew
And we walked home
My friend and I
talking about this and that
Teenage mutant ninja turtles
Bouncy balls
And yo-yos
I 've got the sweet shop blues
The post office blues
For days gone by
Sitting on those flag stones
Where the ivy brushed our legs
And the sun baked on the lichen
You run your hands over
Watching little money spiders
Run on their brittle red legs
Too small, too small to be real
I used to do that there

I used to climb trees in the orchard
The four or five that were there in front
Old apple trees big and strong my mother said they were cookers
When we picked them earwigs fell out
And you twisted one, one way and one the other
And if they came off without pulling too hard
They were ripe
Otherwise you left them - they were the fallers
The wind would blow them down both day and night

I remember looking around in that orchard
The high grass cresting my elbows
Before it was mowed
And Healey the dog bounding through them
I was so happy back then
The trees were our spaceships Katrina, Tanya and Peter
We could ride them and turn on the knobs
And then run down and change and chase
Each other or avoid the sharks below or alien blobs
We lived in our imaginations or least I did I know
I could spend hours day dreaming on the woodshed rooftop
Baking in the sun drenched old wooden doors
I remember especially I liked them especially the locks
The heaviness and oldness of them their copper turning green and blue
Or brass
And then a family cat, Emanuel, Smokey or Bimbo would come up
And sleep next to me
Down the side was Virginia Creeper the whole shed was covered
And I liked to go up there so I could be alone and hide and no one could find me
And now I wish I had not spent so long away I miss the company of family
On these long lonesome days