By: Alan Berger

The next thing you know
Could be the last thing you need
So
Call an ambulance
Or let it bleed

As dead leaf’s scatter
I try
To
Separate the fear in my head
From the heart of the matter

Will the last thing I heard
Be the next thing I say
Or
Will I find an original word to parlay

It was not my plan
To become a crazy old man
I did not
Know
It was in the cards
To lose belief in the stars

Every note
In tune or not
Every sliding scale
Every slippery slope
From the tree of woe
To the jungle of hope
Please
Don’t throw me too much rope

As they write and say
Anything you do
Whether good or nay
Will be held against you one fine day

But then

What a difference
A split second makes
As I continue to swim upstream
In the world of the give and take