Advice to the Young

Cling to your doubts young ones

Know that schools can lie too

Cherish your questions

And recognize your own defiance

But use it wisely and sparingly

Do not rush for answers

Confuse not facts for truth

Don’t be taken in by the easy seduction of artificial highs

Respect the elders who don’t insist on respect

And who don’t talk down to you

Find the dancer within you and feel the rhythms

Don’t hate the haters, just ignore them

Seek the light of love

And the tender embracing care of the giver

Fill your world with friends and cherish them all your days

Make your work your play and your play your work

Make love

And make love a priority

And make making love a priority

Bless the peace makers

Be one

Find yourself then be yourself

Have fun whenever possible

Taste life

Wonder at its miracles

Remember you are divine

Yet you are no better than him or her or even me

We too are divine

Learn to accept what you cannot change

Fight or embrace the rest

Be happy (it’ll do your heart good)

Get Back

Please send me on an acid flashback

Let me have a moment of pure psychedelic transportation

Into a trippy hippie dippy minute

Let me re-live the madness of my youth and the soul-searching pursuit 

Of the elusive truth

Take me back to Gasoline Alley where I hung with Rod

Send me via the Jefferson Airplane on a flight of fancy

Where I can see Ziggy Stardust kissing Joplin

On the stairway to heaven

Let me go across the universe

In a mind bending 60 seconds with my generation

I need for a moment to have my brain tumbling down that endless grassy hill

In a delicious reminder of purple haze

While crooning with Winwood and running through fields of grass

*That kind* (wink)

I have to laugh uproariously at the banality of the middle class

Hops and jumps and caresses of the incense and peppermint

Jugs of wine fueling an old VW Van that takes me to a dappled moon

Oh yeah Oh yeah yeah yeah

I need the soaring clouds in my soul to lift me to galaxies untouched by other minds

Just give me this

Please

Optimist

I raged at the dying of the dawn

The arrogant moaning of sunsets gone

I screamed and hollered at the fat and greedy

As they ignored the poor and needy

I wondered aloud at lives gone wrong

I sadly pondered the bustling throng

I came to see all is not well

In places of ignorance that resemble hell

I stomped my foot at the blazing sun

And the evil that some men have done

I cried real tears over sins of lust

And unhappy lives that come to dust

There it goes the Wintry day

Time again for children to play

As softly I caress the bursting flowers

While making love to precious hours

Hope is always our best road to take

And love not war is what we should make

I love you life I truly do

And celebrate each day that’s new

Though I may rage and I may scream

I put my faith into a dream

My screaming fits will fade quite soon

And then I’ll sing a happy tune

The Governess

I think of the governess I never had

With long flowing brown hair and a tender smile

A big cast iron skillet cooks an egg over easy

For me

The rain spatters against the kitchen window

Lacy brightly colored window curtains are pulled back

The cat meows and the dog looks up from his nap

They both yawn

I wonder at women darning socks

My wife frowns at a stupid remark I make

The smell of coffee brewing so redolent of yesterdays

A pretty woman in a short skirt walks by

She wears a light sweater and must cross her arms to keep warm

The rain has stopped, of course

Still, I had no governess, it’s a silly thought really

But I can’t let go of it

There is a strong sexuality to it all

I wonder at the term ash can

There is only one banana in the house and it is too brown

I want to take the camera and shoot pictures of trees

Or flowers

Or the pretty woman who walked by

Even the big cast iron skillet I imagined

Or the governess

What a pretty dress my imaginary governess wears

I lay my head in her lap

My hand itches

I wish I spoke fluent French

I wish I could jitterbug

Instead I drink the delicious coffee my wife made

I love her

Who needs a governess?

The Dangerous Man

This is the story of a dangerous man

He claims to be doing the best that he can

His motives are pure, he will always claim

The results of his actions are always the same

He forges ahead living the life

Steering clear from trouble and strife

Takes care of business and pay his bills

His life is free of excitement and thrills

Asks no questions doesn’t what to know

His mind and soul have ceased to grow

Likes the simple life, especially his TV

What it doesn’t show him he’ll never see

Pays his taxes and votes without thought

Just is grateful for what he’s got

Follows all the laws and to the letter

But does not a thing to make things better

Cares not at all about injustice and wrongs

Imagines they’re words just mentioned in songs

Poverty, war and pollution aren’t his concern

If its not his house on fire, let it burn

The dangerous man doesn’t rob, destroy or kill

But he’s the main reason our society is ill

His apathy is contagious it’s in every town and city

The dangerous man -- what a pity

In 1967

I’ve been offered a job at Dow Chemical making napalm

I think I’ll pass on it

And burn draft cards instead 

(That’s instead of burning people)

I’m strongly against the war

I oppose American imperial aggression

I support indigenous people

I hate the military industrial complex

My priorities have shifted lately

I’m less inclined to care about what society tells me to care about

And more drawn to what I think is important

I’ve gotten into Eastern philosophy

Zen meditation

I don’t eat meat anymore

(Though I think eating the rich is a good idea)

I’m concerned about the environment

But actually want to turn my concern into action

I accept the differences in others more readily

But am less tolerant of hate, violence and greed

I think positive changes are coming 

But don’t intend to sit around and wait for them

I believe in the spirt of the people 

But only as connected to nature and animals

My hair is really long now

I hardly ever watch TV but listen to a lot of music

FM radio

I drive a VW van

I’m mostly happy

I live with my girlfriend though I don’t call her that

I call her my old lady

I’m her old man

One other thing: power to the people!

Who?

Who am I

Am I this age

Or all the ages I’ve ever been

Am I my body

Or my mind

Am I my accomplishments

Or my dreams

Am I who I say

Or am I your perceptions of me

Am I wrong or right

Am I happy or sad

Does who I am depend on what I’ve just done

Or what I’ve just thought

Or what I’ve just said

Or what I’m planning on doing

And who are you

Are you my reflection of you

Or are you something I cannot know

How can we possibly get along

We must be in each other’s way

We look at the world very differently

We have our own biases and life experiences

We have our own tastes and desires

We dream differently

Yet here we are together

Sharing

Friendly

Who are we

Is there a we

Is it mostly you or mostly me

Or is we perfectly equal

Are we our common ground

Do we only exist when we’re together

Is there no we when we’re apart

How is this all different from us

I’m a bit confused today

sorry