For Bob Dylan

I know I could have done better

I was never really taught

perhaps my father might have coached me

but he died

would life have been better

not being so distraught

not letting emotions overtake me

till I cried

when I was the begetter of

poetry that I wrought

not what my mother wanted 

not what lied

I could have done it better

I was always very taut

in time my lover might have taught me

but she hied

without a father just a brother

battles were sometimes fought

intelligence outwits another

so I tried

to fight with pieces on a chessboard

blindfold without much thought

in a crowded cafeteria

where I vied

with a Scot called David Morton

who would still be a friend

we both aspired to better things

we both shied

away from mediocrity

away from the status quo

wanting what we did not know

in hide-bound Britain

when times they were a-changing

when we heard a poet a-singing his song 

with a raspy voice that grew raspier

I’m still heeding his words 

still hearing his song

I see him sitting close to the brazier

by red coals in the night

by a hole in the road

guarding what looks like a crater

his hat brim turned down

rain drips on his shoulders

runs down his arms

all while his harmonica plays

we could have done better

his song seems to say

but survival is living from day to day

come sit by the brazier

it’s all we have left

all around us is chaos

the gods have all left

come sit by the fire 

continue his song

it’s too late to be thinking who’s right

who’s done wrong

take hold of the future

and wrench from the past

all that is good and worth saving

furniture well made in its day gets passed down

a weaver’s chair sits low to the loom

our sideboard came by covered wagon

who in the past could foretell this gloom

with the sky overcast full of smoke from the fires

rain drips on his shoulders and runs down his arms

into puddles clogged by all the debris

from the building that once was a library

so I freely admit I could have done more

but learning is lifelong so there’s time to do more

as our future unfolds and we learn what’s in store

we’ll take hold of the future

we’ve no time for the past

now we must build something that’ll last.

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                        2024