Dear Father, clouds are drawing near
When did this tree, so tall, stand here?
I still sing songs of nursery rhymes
Feel the touch of sweet, soft, cradle time.

Sun illuminates and softly shares,
Your gracious gift to all who've cared
to help mold the strength relied upon
What an honor to smile, as our child walks on.

Dear Father, winds sweep swiftly by
Is that my dear boy's laugh, or cry?
You see the mountains he will roam
Shine strong the beacon; bring him home.

Rain so hard and lightning fights,
Strong and fearless passes night.
A furious world screams and scratches,
Rends and bites.

Arise the Son.  He stands for right.

Dear Father, was it worth the fight?

You're a puppy
That's been kicked into a wolf.
I want to house-train you.
But wolves don't play fetch very well.

Cool black night thru redwoods
cars parked outside in shade
behind the gate, stars dim above
the ravine, a fire burning by the side
porch and a few tired souls hunched over
in black leather jackets.  In the huge
wooden house, a yellow chandelier
at 3 A.M. the blast of loudspeakers
hi-fi Rolling Stones Ray Charles Beatles
Jumping Joe Jackson and twenty youths
dancing to the vibration thru the floor,
a little **** in the bathroom, girls in scarlet
tights, one muscular smooth skinned man
sweating dancing for hours, beer cans
bent littering the yard, a hanged man
sculpture dangling from a high creek branch,
children sleeping softly in their bedroom bunks.
And 4 police cars parked outside the painted
gate, red lights revolving in the leaves.

                                        December 1965

Throughout the day
Can't keep throbbing at bay

Ebbs and flows like water
Water without the laughter

My Brain is braking out
I let slip, a final shout

As it grows more intense
The throbbing won't let me rest

It has broken down the door
Splinters now carpet the floor

The floor which was once pristine
Will now never again be clean

My head was charged by huns
everything destroyed, running with blood

Throbbing breaks down the walls
With metal chains and *****

And now, it is open to all
A new kind of shopping mall

See this, it's all that's left
Of a mind once neatly kept

Take what you want and leave
This is no place to grieve

As if you cared anyway
Really, I'm better off this way

I'll never try again
Not a single thought through my head

Now prop me up on a wooden chair
And simply forget I was ever there