The poetry of John Denver was mentioned to me recently, so here it is…
I’ve been lately thinking
About my life time
All the things Ive done
And how its been
And I can’t help believing
In my own mind
I know I’m gonna hate to see it end
Seen a lot of sunshine
Slept out in the rain
Spent a night or two all on my own
I’ve known my lady’s pleasures
Had myself some friends
Spent a night or two in my own home
I have to say it now
It’s been a good life all in all
It’s really fine
To have a chance to hang around
And lie there by the fire
And watch the evening tire
While all my friends and my old lady
Sit and pass the pipe around
Talk of poems and prayers and promises
And things that we believe in
How sweet it is to love someone
How right it is to care
How long its been since yesterday
What about tomorrow
What about our dreams
And all the memories we share
The days they pass so quickly now
Nights are seldom long
Time around me whispers when its cold
The changes somehow frighten me
Still I have to smile
It turns me on to think of growing old
For though my life’s been good to me
There’s still so much to do
So many things my mind has never known
I’d like to raise a family
I’d like to sail away
And dance across the mountains on the moon
I have to say it now
It’s been a good life all in all
It’s really fine
To have the chance to hang around
And lie there by the fire
And watch the evening tire
While all my friends and my old lady
Sit and pass the pipe around
Talk of poems and prayers and promises
And things that we believe in
How sweet it is to love someone
How right it is to care
How long its been since yesterday
What about tomorrow
What about our dreams
And all the memories we share
Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.
The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,
I have made this place around you.
If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.
No two trees are the same to Raven.
No two branches are the same to Wren.
If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,
You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you.
Imagine magma encrusted in rock
And on the surface of this world
All eyes are on the clock
All our empires, our philosophies
Our practiced faiths
Our revolutions
Our proud sciences
Are all but a flickering
One day in the lives of the stars
We can breathe in space
They just don’t want us to escape
We can breathe in space
They just don’t want us to escape
And what comes next
The constellations, yes, all 88 of them
A chance to save ourselves
Like the G8, they meet to procrastinate
Greetings,
We are an infant species
Crawling into our own premature decline
The north star is chairing the meeting
He knows we’re spoiled
And he’s snickering at our histories
We can breathe in space
They just don’t want us to escape
We can breathe in space
They just don’t want us to escape
The hollow proposals mean we’ll migrate
But they’ll bleed us dry
until the 11th hour
And when dawn breaks I’ll sit and stagnate
With this metric tonne on your shoulders
How do you cope,
We are an infant species
Crawling into our own premature decline
The north star is chairing the meeting
He knows we’re spoiled
And he’s snickering at our histories
