Nothing in those first wild cheers

Could prepare me for the laughs, the tears,

The peerless peers,

The carbs, the beers,

Of two short years…

 

Now we’ve climbed trees and tamed bees

While a bunch of us gathered with the world

     in stony rooms to make peace

Made family of foreign strangers

Conquered cliffs and other Outdoor dangers

Sick bay lies and SOSH rejections

Did you get your top selections?

 

Homesick tears and midnight calls…

Take two paracetemols

 

Football glory between the fences

Giggling whispered confidences

All-night dayroom conversations

Waving flags of ninety nations

 

Wakie-wakie! Here’s your morning surprise:

Miserable rain or the rarest sunrise?

Farewell, farewell, to you and to me

And our castle by the sea

 

We’ve shivered in Bradenstoke, fried in the glassroom

Buzzed in the coffee lounge, slept in the classroom

 

Those angry skies can’t keep me in…

These wellies are my second skin

Out in the fields counting endless stars

Up by the gate trying to get two bars

Didn’t know things we should’a knowed

Thought we were in love ‘till love really showed

Worked hard, played hard; spread too thin

Howled at the moon till it howled back again

 

Now the tide is out, the end’s in sight

Not sure if we should party tonight

Farewell, farewell, to you and to me

And our castle by the sea

 

Here’s to those endless walks on the coastal path            

Those desperate late-nights doing math

Then second year in autumn light

We finally got to meet each other right

And look at us now…                                                           

We’re packed; might as well take the next bus                       

But it’s so hard to turn our backs on a part of us           

 

I’d like chicken doner with a can of Coke

But ramen and Marcross made me broke                       

 

Let’s skinny dip—there’s barely any ice

Then open house, I hear it’s crow-fried rice                       

 

How will we four ever get along?

Then we’re dancing on tables and singing that song     

 

I want a shower party coz I’m legal now

You fulfilled the AC challenge? Why not take a bow?   

 

Oh, can I go back in time and then

Be stepping off that pot-banging bus again?

Farewell, farewell, to you and to me

And our castle by the sea

 

And as I go, I take with me

The sky the fields the stones the sea

The things I never dreamed I’d do

The friends that taught me what is true           

 

Farewell, farewell...

Farewell, farewell, to you and to me

And our castle by the sea

By the sea

 

Too

Short

Years