I first saw it a month before he died, When we took my father on A drive through his high school town. Thornton We listened to the Shirelles On the way, driving through vineyards And dusty dirt roads. In Thornton, Grapevines wither because it is cold, The December ice too fresh, too biting For their youthful leaves, and they die, Brokenhearted for the flight of youth and sun.