Life Insurance

• Life Insurance

Life Insurance

I have begun to pay back my life in installments
Twentysix fifty a month -
That's a pint of lager or a parmigiana
That's a second-hand treasure from the record shop

I'm doing well, saving a life by the change in
My pockets, just six dollars eighty a week
That's two cups of coffee please or
Half a pack of guitar strings
(I'll pay you the other half right after the gig)

A penny for your smile, my friend
A penny for your cheer
A penny for your warm embrace
When I become a millionaire

A dollar a day is barely a ripple
There's hundreds in the fountain, thrown for a lark
Where the lovers dip their toes and
Wet their hair and their clothes
The heads and the tails glisten like stars

A dollar a day is a sweet little bargain
You can't even buy decent candy for that
You can find it in a payphone
Or the tubs at the laundromat
Or the curbs at the bars where the punters
Spilled into cabs

A penny for your smile, my friend
A penny for your cheer
A penny for your warm embrace
When I become a millionaire

I have begun to pay back my life in installments
Three hundred dollars a year
That's a ticket to Dylan, dinner and a show
That's a visit for X-rays, just so we know

A penny aside for your smile, my friend
A penny for your cheer
A penny for your warm embrace
When I become a millionaire
A penny for your smile, my friend
A penny for your cheer
A penny for your warm embrace
When I become a millionaire

© Brendan Bonsack
August 2015

1. That Line in the Sea
2. Your Child has the Heart of a Poet
3. Maralinga Blue
4. Life Insurance
5. Future First Mutual Life Insurance
6. Fallout Flowers
7. Closing Time
8. Grace
9. Will You Take me Down to the River?
10. Intimacy and the Tiny Drum
11. Old Lovers
12. A Letter from my Grandchildren
13. Remembrance

The Sea Will Take it From Here
Released June 2016