Those Days, Edited*

Scott Foreman, Rob Tidmore, Mike Meyers, Chris Long (nka Bakunas), Terry (nka Tellis) Capell

Everyone had ambition

Though no-one took the time to listen

We all thought we had a million years and ten

Hair thinned and fell out
shaky confidence turned to doubt
Suddenly it became work to meet up with friends

Addictions, marriages, mortgages, disparages
Miles away lapsed into months then years apart
Somebody we all knew or possibly was a relation to
Would tell of victory's, defeats, and broken hearts

Have you heard such and such do you keep in touch
Thought you'd know about the kids, jail, divorce
Maybe you'd go fishing and would start reminiscing
Tell yourself it's time to go directly to the source

Writing a check on Thursday you remembered it's a birthday
And you can't believe it's been that long a time
You don't feel that age and then look in a mirror
To try to gauge
Whether it's the light that's causing all those lines

It would be good next vacation
To stop with the procrastination
Pay a visit to the old neighborhood

What if they lost the house to the recession
Or worse, to the ex-spouse
You wonder if they would think you understood

You heard about some hardship but regarded it as gossip
Would it have hurt to have offered assistance
Remembering them tough as leather
Riding out the worst of weather

You think you had to maintain your distance
From those windows that open upon all the 
Changes you've undergone
Wind and rain blow in and stir up the room

Like a pathetic vitriolic offer of water to a shaking alcoholic
The last thing you need is to try to exhume
A life that has passed even if it seemed 
To be gone too fast
Every train eventually reaches its final destination






*This was edited on 01/04/2014. I was never happy with the original. The original was, it was just, I don't know...cumbersome. I didn't edit much - added two words, omitted two words, and broke up the stanza structure.