SO QUIETLY BESIDE YOU
©Trev Teasdel Coventry November 1970


Here I am, sitting so quietly beside you.
Uncertainty clouds my mind.
I like you, I like the gentle warmth
of your form beside me.
The chilling whisper of your voice in my ear.
But I can’t think what to say.
My mind’s become a blank.
The thought of you fills my mind,
and I throw dead end questions
that you answer then forget.
You seem to do the same.
How can conversation
hope to burst forth.


It’s so silly sitting here like silent waters.
We could flow together if we tried.
But it’s so hard to draw back the veils
of shyness and let the warmth of love flow forth.
And still the trickle of nothing,
from two tongues that are tied.
We mention things that have no scope for conversation
Personal questions that sound like prying.
An hour of nervous coughs
and polite laughter to ‘Break the silence jokes’
which have no significance at all.
The odd glances and smiles which say
“I’d like to get to know you better but it’s so hard to think of things to say.“


So then I asked you to accompany me,
down through the corridors to the concert hall,
where the group was exploding in a maze of freaking hair,
a darkened hall with flashing lights and sounds
that leaves you senseless in a world of inhibitions.


I put my arms around,
like a cushion soft and warm.
The barriers still trembling
but slowly yielded to our desires.
We kiss away our nervousness
and dance ’til shattered we become
I walked you home that night
and we danced our dreams on ice.