Sailing To Odessa

We thought we saw the other shore…

the land where we’d be free

in front of us…turned out not to be;

it was a mirage of goodness, a stutter

in the momentum of the times…not

that we’ll ever forget…too much LSD.

A whiter shade of pale haunts me…

the blood flees in shock when I see

what’s happening to the world…this

can’t be what I was born into… this

is not what I learned life is about.

I’m not naive…I know realpolitik…

the fallacy of misplaced value…

winning arguments by body count…

then what?

Sailing to Odessa to sit in the cafe

smoking Turkish tobacco, drinking

the dark coffee…reading lives in

old mens’ wrinkled skin…to be…

just to be.