Oh Dreams Oh Dreams 

I was in a German camp 

Where atrocities had taken place 

But I was a guard on the gate 

An innocent guard 

A wooden gate 

Painted red and white 

Occasionally soldiers came down for a smoke 

Or to wash their hands 

In the wooden bucket on the path to the latrines 

The water although clear was blood red tinged 

I knew that some of my visitors loved me 

And from time to time I received letters 

Expressing their admiration and longing  

I answered each of them noting that I was straight 

And liked girls especially the raven bakers daughter in the village

But still the letters came with an alarming frequency 

Officers came to see and invited me to the cinema in the camp 

But I declined their kindness ensuring no insult 

And then it ended when the hostilities ceased 

I married my raven girl and moved to a town one thousand miles away 

Where I might not be recognised or approached 

All went well until I was arrested for war crimes at the camp 

I explained that I was the gatekeeper and sometimes cleaned the latrines 

That was all I was not complicit in anything awful 

I was an innocent sparrow caught up in a shit storm 

That was on my charge sheet 

An innocent sparrow caught up in a shit storm 

If I had not known why was the clear water lightly stained 

Why did ordinary men frequently vomit in the latrines 

The gatekeeper was guilty by association as I was a well oiled cog

I was offered a cyanide pill by one of my grey guards 

But I fed it to the rats who had been nibbling at my blackened feet 

It was after I was found guilty of being the keeper of the gate 

That my raven girl visited my prison cell and offered me a new dream 

A dream free of the horrors of my previous dreams 

I would not longer receive letters or be invited to the cinema 

A stationmaster at a rural station where the sleeve trains pass 

Was the option that we settled on so we closed our eyes 

And found ourselves on the main platform of a rural station 

Looking up into the distant hills where near the summit

A child was catching the reflection of the sun in a small mirror 

Ans sharing it with us both in the valley below