Headed for the Front Range

As once I tossed empty cans in a river
And contemplated future events,
I now look up at these mountains
And wonder where the last five years went.
I know it’s a cliché to say it,
But back then it all seemed easy.
What has happened in my life
Since makes me quite queasy:
The options I took and choices I made:
I would’ve felt less pain if
I’d just been knifed myself with a six-inch blade.

Don’t misunderstand,
I don’t mean to complain.
It’s just that sometimes
Life hits me like a runaway train.
So often I have felt abandoned,
As if I’ve been left behind
And someone’s taken my hindsight
So that I can only look ahead, blind.
It has seemed sometimes
That the only thing helping me through it
Is a big bottle of Early Times,
Or, and I know it seems strange,
A Larry Walker longball
Headed for the Front Range.

This pain I can lessen
As I’ve done it before
But experience has taught me
That it can bite back like a vengeful whore
If it’s all held in
And is allowed to accumulate.
Life will become unbearable
And will make you an inmate,
Prisoner to your dreams,
Chained to your fears,
If you think life is better
After more than a few beers.


04.04.97
Boulder