On the day you said yes

On the day you said yes

Opening the gates of my world

A flock of possibilities took flight

The sun pushed the clouds aside

Outside, the world was closing doors

And lowering shutters

As I signed up for you

The Government was calling up men

To man the barricades of yesterday’s empires

And women to woman the blockades

In Pimlico and Berlin

But you said yes when Mao said no

to the West, you gave me refuge

As we sailed up the Yangtze

To rescue our reputation

On the day we gave

the performance of our lives

Together in our private love story

As Olivier gave his Hamlet to the masses

And Orwell gave his prophecy to the proles

About the world to come

But we were too busy to notice

Writing our own book of the future

No plot lines, no narrative

Just signatures on a page in a church

The famous last words of two stories

That became one on that day

On the day you said yes

And every day since.

Roy Stannard – for Pat and Doug Myers to celebrate 65 years of happiness 23.11.14

Listen to a live recorded version here: