when i was ten years old i always needed to be told that i should not be frightened by the fact that we grow old but as the days slipped by i felt the pressing need to cry and i quickly understood exactly why they d had to lie in the daylight i could cope because the sun seemed full of hope i laughed enough for two grown men and learned i could tell jokes but sadness has a subtle face and then it came to gloat we heard about the girl and boy hung by their skipping rope isn t it too hard to conceive doesn t it bring you to your knees and all i want to do is to float with the river so free now fear is not a gentle thing although it has no fists it crawls down from your thoughts and ties you by your skinny wrists death will take your lips from you so that you cannot kiss but fear will leave you screaming out for all the love you ll miss and i had a friend who thought he knew exactly where he stood a place in heaven s safe for him as long as he did good but life and love ran through his veins and opened up his mind now he s got his gun but a new terror sings at night isn t it too hard to conceive doesn t it bring you to your knees and all i want to do is to float with the river so free and larkin is the master in this poetry of fear but he could never capture what cried darkly in his ears and he would understand that though i wrote these words to sing these petty verses cannot hope to tell you anything  isn t it too hard to conceive doesn t it bring you to your knees and all i want to do is to float with the river so free so every day i ll stop these thoughts before they ll take a hold lying there in my bed pretending that i won t grow old and maybe when i m 84 i ll sit and sing this song just hope that if i do then this fear is dead and gone isn t it too hard to conceive doesn t it bring you to your knees and all i want to do is to float with the river so free isn t it too hard to conceive doesn t it bring you to your knees and all i want to do is to float with the river so free is to float with the river so free is to float with the river so free1