Three wives you have had
Several children you have sired
Two so new
What was it that made you go?
ups and downs
and crashing is painful
Babbling new sounds
as you play your guitar
as you complain about "if only"
Tattoo of Betty on your arm
You wanted to sail the world
but you never even had a boat
Sometimes I feel these dreams
You are imprinted in me in ways
I can not understand
Would we have liked each other?
Would you have took me out driving,
would you let me sneak a cigarette
or would you denounce such habits as you took your own drags?
Would you have hoped for the best for me?
And my brother,
would you have helped him to be a man among men?
Would you show him anything?
Who were you when all is said and done?
Did you cry yourself to sleep at night bursting lonely?
Did you love too hard?
And oh my mother, did she not understand?
Did you frighten her with love?
Or was it arguments, or instability or refusal to try?
In a truck in the storage center by a bridge in 1982 you gave up.
Sometimes the trying gets to be so hard.
So hard.