The saddest thing I've ever known
Could be picked up and (like a stone)
Skipped far across a noble lake
And swallowed up for goodness sake.

So, Darling, Dear I cannot stay
Though kneeling here I laugh and pray
You are a fool and I am too
I know this truth most through and through

Please forgive my silliness
When I with all my heart confess
I do not know which way is up
I bark and twist just like a pup

I wander here and skip to there
With vacant eyes and messy hair
Because I'm thinking other things
And wondering what joys they'll bring

Or, if perhaps I've got it wrong
From my perch amid the throng
Perhaps they all have got it right
And I am who I am for spite

But such things weigh me down at night
When all that I can find for light
Is an old lamp I dearly love
Broken by a friendly shove

With its dangerously exposed element
A time I - like an elephant -
Cannot forget for the life of me
Despite copious amounts of tea

And passing years and seasons too
But despite all this - I still live you.