What Did I Do?

What did my arms do before they held you?
They pushed a wheelbarrow filled with shit
All through the night, treacle black and sweet.
They pushed a Hoover over a threadbare carpet
Dusted with Shake n' Vac 'Scent of Defeat'.
They just didn't have a clue what to do,
Like the God Vishnu with a snooker cue.

What did my nose do before it smelt you?
It smelt pain and fear and depredation.
It smelt lemon curd and Nescafé Gold Blend.
It sat slap bang in the Indian reservation
Close enough to smell the stink of many white men.
It sniffed out truffles in the Forest of Arden.
It smelt spoors of badger in a midnight garden.

What did my fingers do before they touched you?
They smoked ten thousand dirty cigarettes
In cahoots with my stupid dirty lips.
They killed time, messing, pressing frets
Till they could grease you with buttery fingertips.
They propelled the arrows à la Bristow.
They played a hundred meaningless concertos.

What did I do before I met you?
None of it mattered, that much is true.

B.R. 21/04/2013

 

"I'm crushing your head!"

The peerless Orson Welles in F for Fake (1974)