Badlands

4th of July, Hampden Park

You're the only diamond in this dust.

Would you hate me if I dreamed of us?

I've dreamed a thousand dreams of kissing you,

I hope you make just one come true.

I want to feel your lips on mine,

Taste your breath just one time.

There's so much beauty in your tired eyes,

The most beautiful eyes I've seen in my life.

You should be somewhere better than this,

Not packing parcels on a night shift.

You're so delicate, too lovely to be true.

A cold, dusty warehouse is no place for you.

Rose gardens and perfume stores

Are places that would suit you more,

With sprays and bouquets aromatic and bright,

Everything you see should be a delight,

You should be breathing in sweeter smells,

Not inhaling dust in this cardboard hell.

How did you end up in the dust and dark,

Working this night shift in Hampden Park?

Oh Nancy, how I long to take you away from here,

You're all I've been dreaming about in this year

Of covid, isolation and lockdown madness.

I've escaped to dreams of your gentleness

Soothing me like a summer breeze

When reality is blowing me to my knees.

Social distancing is cruel and unforgiving,

And winter dragged on seemingly never-ending.

Coldness has become a second skin,

I long to shed it and feel warmth again.

It's the 4th of July, lets declare our independence

And just for tonight run away from this mess.

We could sit on the beach beside the pier

And watch the daylight disappear,

We could watch the moon rise, and dance in the dark,

Make wishes on the shooting stars,

We could draw constellations on each other's skin,

While we lay there, laughing and dreaming

Of what we could have been and could still be

If we only had more than one night to be free.