A Sea of Fears.

A Sea of Fears:

Tom used to dive from piers

And he would out-drink

Out-think all his peers.

He said: just keep your

Feet down and together.

He would weather

Nights and days at sea.

And fell asleep upon a

Stove and lost the feeling

In each hand.

Only drank and drove to the next bar

And drank and worked back home on land.

And Tom would say the sons and daughters

Of today stay out of reach.

Like when you told me not to go into the water

The day that we all went to the beach.

He found it laughable that

You would hold it all against me.

And I find it affable

That he’s just as incensed as me.

He fought the bullies back in school.

And wouldn’t ever have been made a fool.

And stuck a guy’s head in the oven.

And I know that it seems cruel.

But he grew up in times of loyalty

When men were mavericks.

When bullies were not royalty

And we don’t bow before the dicks.

Do you remember when we walked that night

And passed that lengthy pier?

And I thought: one day we’ll race to test our might

To there from here?

Where is that spirit now?

In crystal meth?

Or chasing death in suicide?

The pride of dead end jobs.

The muffled voice of mobs

And traitors justified?

Just if I’d known how prone

You were to lie and cheat.

I would have helped you to atone

For your aloneness and deceit.

And the conceit: that you want U.S.A.

To be like in the good old days.

But you still hold the beach against me

To this very day.

I speak to you directly:

Want to best me? We can take it to the beach.

We do not need to fight it out.

Just swim as far as we can reach.

And all of the experience

That I’ve accrued over the years.

Will keep me from passing delirious

Into a sea of fears.

Dm.A.A.