BALLAD OF THE OPTIC NERVE

You know we dream in black and white and all you're seeing is the memory And when you close your eyes at night can you shut out all you're feeling Should I lose that gift of sight, how would I know who is that holds me To never see the face I love, are words enough to give love meaning And if they ask me why I fell, why it was I seemed to stumble Just for a moment I was blind, your faltering touch it was that caught me No matter what we say or do, no one can ever quite extinguish All the light or damp the flame that flickers softly in your vision They'll say that was your master stroke, that line that runs right Through your life and colours everything you do And as the colours bleed and run call it the ballad of the optic nerve You know that Elvis sang the blues and for his pain he was rewarded He sounded brilliant in the dark. All this I know because he told me He was singing I thought I'd never write again and all my words were merely token But hidden in my book of poems I found this ballad to the optic nerve And for the first time in my life I see further now than ever Even in darkness there is light, at least that much now I am learning God if I'd wings to fly I would, if I were honest I'd tell all Perhaps a lifetime's not enough to write this ballad of the optic nerve