Time For The Leaving

The wind blows the ashes of summer
And pulls at a torn paper face on the hooding
And a marmalade cat with dog mangled ears
Slips through the fence without speaking

This was my world alone
Football and marbles and coming home late if you dare
I look at the face in the mirror
I know it so well but I don't know at all

And the child looks so weary, faint on the shelves
And the things that were precious, now dusty

This was my yesterday
And the friends that I knew have all gone
Now and now, now is the time for the leaving

In the corner, she sits by the fire
And seeks for the words that somehow elude her
And the yesterday face with the kitsch in a moustache
Looks down faded brown from the mantlepiece

This is her world alone
A blue cotton dress and the man on the cross on the wall

"Oh why must you go?" were the words that she found
There's a job with a paperback firm
Five minutes away and the pay's real good
And the prospects get better, they say

How can I tell you now?
Goodbye must be all I can say
Now and now, now is the time for the leaving
Now and now, now is the time for the leaving