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Rachel

(Bob Ryan)

This one is for Impunity Jane

The face of an orphan
in a scratchy English movie,
When St. Paul's was burning
and tracers lit the skies,
Makes me remember
a friend I had in England
That I left without a warning,
when I was young and wise.

Rachel was living
in a rented flat in London,
She'd get up in the morning
to go where she would go.
Her life was made up
of names I'd never heard of
And all I can remember
is all I'll ever know.

And there are so many times
that I think about the morning;
The roses and the yawning
and the empty summer sky.
And it is so unkind
that the last thing I remember
Are her sad eyes, and a voice
that whispered
"Why did I . . ?"

Rachel is riding
on a train that's bound for Brighton.
The dirty smoke is rising,
and it's curling out to sea.
Ties that lie behind her
will be hard pressed to find her,
And the only recollection
is locked inside of me.

And I am in prison,
in southern California,
My walls are lined
with the portraits of my crime.
I'll remain in prison
until there isn't any England.
And there will always be an England;
Or so they say sometimes.