To See The Best Before I Have

If You Look At My Last Songs And First Short Stories, There Is A Real Connection Between Them.

It Is One Of The Enjoyments Of Retirement That You Are Able To Drift Through The Day At Your Own Pace, Easy In The Knowledge That You Have Put Hard Work And Achievement Behind You.

It Was Like Being Given A Maths Problem When Your Brain's Exhausted, And You Know There's Some Far-off Solution, But You Can't Work Up The Energy Even To Give It A Go. Something In Me Just Gave Up.

I Took One Glance At Her In That Hospital Bed Under The Dull Light And Recognised The Look On Her Face, Which I'd Seen On Donors Often Enough Before. It Was Like She Was Willing Her Eyes To See Right Inside Herself, So She Could Patrol And Marshal All The Better The Separate Areas Of Pain In Her Body.

The Fantasy Never Got Beyond That—i Didn’t Let It—and Though The Tears Rolled Down My Face, I Wasn’t Sobbing Or Out Of Control. I Just Waited A Bit, Then Turned Back To The Car, To Drive Off To Wherever It Was I Was Supposed To Be.