Paul Heaton

Poems

Paul Heaton


Tom: D

D Dsus2

[Verse 1]
D
Poems
Dsus2
Don't sit by river
D                  Bm                     A
Aren't there to be picked up by poets who pass
                D      Dsus2
To find them on bank
   D
And I'm
Dsus2
Not built to deliver
D    Bm                     A
When stepping stone love in need
                 D     Dsus2
Of a bridge or a plank

[Verse 2]
    G       A
And youth
                   D
The stream so much wider
G                               A
Thought you could slow down the flow
                     D
If you drank and you drank
   G        A
Middle age
                D
Still unable to find her
    G                           A
The words on the stone that you skimmed
             D       Dsus2
So heavy, it sank

[Verse 3]
D
The ripple
Dsus2
Hesitation creates
    G                 A
The unposted poem with message
                 D       Dsus2
So clear, yet so blank
D
Love will come (Love to come)
Dsus2
Not to he who just waits
     G                            A
For mouthing from bank side seems safer
                D      Dsus2
Than living in tank

[Verse 4]
G         A
Thoughts
                   D
We understood were preserved
      G                       A
They rotted and quickly moved on
                    D
To a less cluttered bed
    G      A
And rust
                    D
Some thoughts never deserved
    G                       A
But treated no different to ones
                 D
You kept in your head

[Bridge]
Em                   A
Couldn't master me a classical piece
D
Brain's well oiled, but it's never been greased
Em               A
Popular, but not fighting for seats
D                  C
Pays the rent, but never the lease
Em                      A
Never been classed as a work of art
D
Unlikely, with the slowest of starts
Em                  A
Good progress if he ever took part
D                                 G
Schooldays when you live by your heart
A            D            Dsus2
When you live by your heart

[Verse 5]
D
And those
Dsus2
Strong and able survive (Strong and able survive)
    G            A
And do so at the expense
               D      Dsus2
Of fiction and art
D
Dissolve
Dsus2
Unnoticed to sea (Unnoticed to sea)
   G                      A
As time eats the evidence left
                  D       Dsus2
That we even took part

[Outro]
D       Dsus2
Poems (Poems)
D    Dsus2    D
Don't sit by river...