Love me like the rock of ages

My hands can’t touch a guitar string,
my fingers just burn and ache.

Now he is old,
the rock star’s
younger wife
speaks for him;
her voice,
the story of his secrets,
too much to remember,
too much to forget
between the frets.

Sixty years on,
he fills stadiums where
the crowds are invisible;
he sings them
his greatest hits
in a shivering voice.

Now he is old,
the rock star desires
to do it again,
to sing it back,
to sing himself to life.

He has ten new songs,
small songs about
love and anger,
songs of sorrow
and belonging,
about the road
and what was lost,
and his own hard rain.

© BH, 2023

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It’s an American Tune. Really, just a thought about ageing rock stars.