MS-UoR-1477-2

⁴⁰⁰

[0015] that time you went back to that last time to look
was the ruin still there what year ^when was that now

[0015] took the eleven to the end of the line and from there
no no trams then all gone long ago

[0015] what year ^when was that when you went back to look was the
ruin still there and not a tram left in the place only
the old rails

[0018] straight off the boat and up with the bag in your hand
to the main street and there not a wire in sight only
the old rails

[0018] what ^when in God's name year ^{that time you went back when in God's name} was that was your mother still -
ah for God's sake not at all all gone long ago

[0018] that time you went back ^{the night then} where did you stay the night ^then that
time you went back to look was the ruin still there some-
one's folly [0021] Maguire was it Maguire's Folly bit of the tower
still standing all the rest rubble and nettles

[0021] where did you stay the night ^then that time all the homes gone
was it that kip on the front where you - no Dolly^She was with
yoy^u then still with you then

[0021] only one night in any case off the boat one morning and
back on her the next to look was the ruin still there ^where you
hid as a child

[0021] ^{[⁁]hide there all day} slip off ^{and hide there all day} when they weren't looking and and hide there all
day sitting on a stone in the middle of the nettles with
a book [0025] or talking to yourself out loud imaginary conver-
sations

[0025] there was childhood for you eleven or ten or eleven sitting
on a stone in a ruin in the middle of the nettles making it
up now the one voice now the other till you were hoarse and
they all sounded alike

[0025] well ^on into the night some moods in the dark or moonlight
have them all out on the roads looking for you

[0032] that time you went back that last time to look was the ruin
still there in the field straight off the boat and up on
to the main street to catch the eleven neither right nor
left only one thought in your mind ^{head a single thought}

[0032] ^{⁁neither right nor left a single thought} not a curse for the old scenes just head down press ohⁿ up
the hill from the pier to where the stop was

[0032] stood there waiting with the bag in your hand till the
truth began to dawn [0035] no getting at it that way so what
next no question of asking not another word to the living
as long as you lived ^{never another word.}