My Sunny Chest

Under Winter's cloak in the deepest night,

Lies a sunny chest of mine;

Though I'm old and bent and ill of sight,

I remember every line.

Every line that's carved into my chest

Is a line well-carved and true;

Every line has withstood Autumn's test

And reminds me of dear you.

When I open up the withered lid,

I can see the golden Sun,

That surrounds your face as I once did,

When I hugged and called you "hon".

As your voice floods down upon my ears,

Like a stream of whispered dreams;

And away the years do disappear,

Into youthful summer beams.

You carved your lines into my heart,

When you kissed me there and then;

As we laughed and hid in the apple cart,

And I'd sworn off other men.

I was young and tall, with a sparkling eye;

You--a clown who made me smile;

All for you I did to my father lie,

So that he was mad for a while.

Remember where we ran that night,

When the moon was rising high?

It was big and white and oh so bright,

Up in that great starless sky.

It was then those lines you carved in me,

Turned to poems in my chest;

From the time we had our little boy,

To our adventure in the West.

Now you are gone fair Winter's come

To take me home at last;

I will read these poems in my chest some;

Then I'll fly to you real fast.