'They've all gone….' <br /> <br />Sorry? <br /> <br />'No-one left….' <br /> <br />Left where? <br />What are you on about? <br /> <br />'Gone.' <br /> <br />Oh… I get it: <br />Were in Neither-Here-nor-There-Land: <br />Between Living and Nod. <br />Nod: <br />Cain's exile East of Eden. <br />East of Eden. <br />Film of Steinbeck's book… <br />James Dean, wasn't it? <br />Was it? <br />Not sure now.. <br />Who else? <br />…. If it was him in the first place. <br /> <br />'No-one left. … All gone.' <br /> <br />Who? <br />Where, Love, who's gone where? <br />Hmm, 'Who's on First': <br />Abbott and Costello. <br />Is that Abott or Abbot or Abbott… <br />And why don't I know? <br />Did I know once? <br />'Where's on first' wouldn't have worked, <br />would it? <br />Wonder if they wrote it, <br />Or if there was some <br />Barry Cryer-type gag-writer <br />Paid a pittance <br />To make them look good? <br />Did they have movies then? <br />Maybe it was just 'sound good', then. <br /> <br />'On the beach…' <br /> <br />Which beach, Love? <br />Shell Bay? <br />Dunes to hide and make love in; <br />Or that time Barry Pike <br />Kicked the football into the nudist camp <br />And hadn't got the balls to go and get it. <br />Wonder where he is now … <br />And whether his nerve arrived with the years. <br /> <br />'But they're gone! ' <br /> <br />Yeah, I've got that, Love: <br />They've all gone… <br />To the beach maybe? <br />Would be fun today in the snow. <br />Snowball-fighting on the beach: crazy! <br />Then maybe a dare to plunge in. <br />Hang on you idiot, you did that once in 5°C <br />But that was well before you were 50 - <br />You remember the statistics <br />For middle aged heart-attacks: <br />You don't need me to tell myself again do I? <br />Mum died at 56. <br /> <br />You're right, Love, <br />You're right: <br /> <br />They're gone.<br /><br />Tony Jolley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/neither-here-nor-there-4/
