The Summers Behind You

from The Summers Behind You by Barry Childs-Helton

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lyrics

Lyrics and music by Barry Childs-Helton

Just ignore those hungry glances
while you're slipping off the wetsuit
and new Voits—
maybe sip a gin and tonic
while you stretch and tell one more
of your exploits.
You show a lot of skill at skin games.
You've got handfuls of men—
what became of their names?
Are they lost between
the summers behind you,
one at a time?

I still dream about that island
though I always run aground
in the small hours
while you're cruising from the slopes
into the cool white rooms
of the tall towers.
Did you find executive bliss?
Are you thinking of changing
your habitual kiss?
Did you leave it
in the summers behind you,
one at a time?

Well, I'm keeping it together
though it's nowhere near
a precise fit.
Where do you put excess
fascination
when nothing excites it?

Do you still ease into conquest
with that balance of display
and defiance?
Maybe check your parner's armament
before you form
your short-term alliance?
Well, the powerboats bob in the sun,
so you'd better get on
with what you've begun—
and leave 'em
stranded in the summers behind you,
one at a time.

If I see you in the future,
then you'll know it's not the one
that you ordered—
unless you made that lissome landing
where the sunlight is too sweet
to be sordid.
Well, a sunburn will eventually heal—
yeah, you might've been right
that we could've been real—
but that's a story from
the summers behind you,
run out of time.

Another story from
the summers behind you,
run out of time.

credits

from The Summers Behind You, released October 23, 2015

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about

Barry Childs-Helton Indianapolis, Indiana

Barry is known to science fiction fandom as a singer-songwriter-guitarist with wife Sally Childs-Helton, the Black Book Band, and Wild Mercy. (Photo by Beckett Gladney; banner photo by Shawn Olson.)

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