There was a time
When sandstone Oxford rested on summer days
In birdsong breeze free from cell phone jingles
Blessed with time to think and ponder
Where Magdalen cloisters cooled the drift of passing hours
~
When carefree dresses swung on rhythm thighs
Along the banks of the lazy Cherwell
Raising eyes and hopes of pubside regulars
Four pints wise in lascivious dreams
~
Where Pine box Emma hawked stolen poetry in St Giles
Coining patronage from a wander of wide-eyed tourists
Pawned her muse on spiced fried chicken
Surrendered Keats to Colonel Sanders greasy promises
~
There was a time
When we shopped around for friends and lovers
When Lennon supplied the answers
When love lay in Woodstock’s fields of barley
When you and I were young.

Authors Notes.
Pine Box Emma was a real person in Oxford. She altered a few lines from the lesser known poems of famous authors then passed them off as her own poetry standing on a box in the shopping precincts around the city.
Woodstock is a part of rural Oxford, not a reference to the 1969 music festival.