Into the Mystic pt1

     
     I really don’t remember what we talked about that last time I was with him. It was my birthday, so I suppose he may have made some comment about that, or maybe he didn’t. Maybe it was me who had mentioned it, because it seems like he didn’t have much to say about my turning another year of the clock, and he always had a joking comment for such an occasion. Of course he wasn’t feeling good that day, so maybe he just sat there staring at me like he often did, with me looking back at him and assuming his thoughts must be focused on this male child he’d sired those many decades ago, and just what had actually become of him.  But maybe he really wasn’t thinking about much of anything other than how rotten he was feeling, although he still didn’t complain. He never complained. And as far as anyone remembered, he hadn’t complained about much of anything his entire life. But now it was coming to an end and we both knew it.

          

The Only Child/Pretender

Jackson Browne

 Boy of mine

 As your fortune comes to carry you down the line

 And you watch as the changes unfold

 And you sort among the stories you've been told

 If some pieces of the picture are hard to find

 And the answers to your questions are hard to hold

 Take good care of your mother

 When you're making up your mind

 Should one thing or another take you from behind

 Though the world may make you hard and wild

 And determine how your life is styled

 When you've come to feel that you're the only child

 Take good care of your brother

 Let the disappointments pass

 Let the laughter fill your glass

 Let your illusions last until they shatter

 Whatever you might hope to find

 Among the thoughts that crowd your mind

 There won't be many that ever really matter

 But take good care of your mother

 And remember to be kind

 When the pain of another will serve you to remind

 That there are those who feel themselves exiled

 On whom the fortune never smiled

 And upon whose life the heartache has been piled

 They're just looking for another

 Lonely child

 And when you've found another soul

 Who sees into your own

 Take good care of each other