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never been good in crowds
never been good in crowds
didn't have the feel for that
collective rush
felt more like...
dying
to tell the
truth
I recall once
an icy cold
winters day
the kids huddled
round the
schools front door
trying to
get out of
the bitter winds
the door is locked I
have no idea what the
adults were thinking
maybe they
we're in their
own crowd
unaware
it was the coldest day
of the year
what I remember was
the kids knocking
pounding kicking
at the door
pressing
straining in
as one
let us in
someone said
immediately
others joined the
chorus yeah
let us
in
then someone shouted
we don't need no
and unorchestrated the
crowd
took up the re-frain
education
that was it the
spark that started the
transformation
me I
didn't know the
song not
back then
anyway but my body
has never forgotten
hey there teacher's leave
those kids
alone
never been the same since
feeling the press the
weight of the masses of
parka'd bodies
synchronizing according to
some unknown
harmony
a terrifying unity of
dissent
and here at the
top of the
world you
tell me you want
t(w)o feel
needed and I feel
it again that old
tightening of the
chest
I love you I
want you but
there ain't no
way I'm
ever gonna let
myself need
you I('ve)
been working
all my life to
not lose my-
self again
so here we
are at this
stand-off both
with our uncompromable
compromises
backs up
against the wall
of our
necessity as
it were
a candle
between us a
fire
in the hearth against
the winters
wrath the
human con-
dition I
guess
I lift my
glass t(w)o the
too of us
on this the
coldest night
of the
year
