You Can't Expect To Be Remembered

You Can't Expect To Be Remembered Lyric by Clive James, music by Pete Atkin
The bards of old were bold about their claims upon posterity Petrarch, Shakespeare and Ronsard Were never slow to guarantee Their loved ones' immortality They never said Farewell, they said "So long" "So long lives this and this gives life to thee" They didn't doubt the power of a rhyme Or the durability of scribbled pages And so they wrote immortal lines to Time That gave their love affairs to all the ages And if eternity were still a good address And if my skill were greater, fears were less I'd do the same for you, my dear But since it isn't and they aren't I can't see my way clear To promising the permanence of all our joy and sorrow Very far beyond the early evening of tomorrow You can't expect to be Remembered like somebody in a song Whose name fits to a string of quavers Or last for anything like as long No-one in times to come Will read your praises written down to stay In balanced lapidary phrases Not that they wouldn't if I knew the way You'd be there With all the ladies of the sonnets, dark and fair If only I could work the trick Of giving local habitation to the air But it just doesn't seem to click You'll never hear from me That your name will live until the sun is cool You can't expect to be remembered You wouldn't catch me being such a fool