Y'knowthat feeling
You spent HOW MUCH
Keeping that old dawg alive
That last six weeks
When if it was a horse
In the Old West
You'd a shot it
Ending its own misery.
She must have known
The junkyard grave
The cannibalization
Was just around the corner
But those last rides together
Meant way too much
Couldn't throw in the towel
Until the doctor pronounced
The end had come.
The mourning began
The very next day
How could I let her die?
But then you knew
The old girl had a good life
Lots of adventures
And I mean LOTS!
And after all you once thought
She had died young
Bu tthe doctors brought her back
With a new heart and nervous system
New pipes, too.
That was in Michigan
Long after those wild nights
In Napa and Big Sur
And the endless trips
To Big Shoulders
For the pizza and "potilics"
The My-T princes
And the angels of mercy
The shadow boxer
The theater buff
The Micks of Naperville
So many others
The nights she drove
To Nashville for eclipses
And Independence parties
And hangs with the homie
Who delivered the free shoes
One cannot forget
The poster maker
Creator of the imagery
That fueled many stories
And the candlemaker too
And that day at Manuel's
So many good times
So many more to come
Florida too was in her sights
Those breezy April nights
The salty air the reggae fair
The reunions galore
Lattes with Lotte
The Moral-ity days
The songs of TayTay
No cryin with Ryan
And two nights
With the JV squad
Wildest of all though
Was the winter in the Valley
With the pizza chef
And the carnies
And the best tea shop
That also sold coffee
St. Louis with the Mud Queen
Denver with the carpenter
Amarillo by very early morning
After a Colorado sunrise
And other Colorado days
And very cold June nights
When the dance hall doll
Lit up the Telluride skies
That darkest day
When Baltimore
Was too far away
To save the swan
From Jason's wrath
Yet out of that gloom
And the electoral doom
New life emerged
I was on the verge
Of a brand new career
At an age when others
Were shutting down operations
Eage rfor the joy
Of bouncing children's children
I was sailing into
The greatest adventure
Since meeting my Champagne lady
And all that went before
I could finally adopt the moniker
The New Jim Bishop
Op ed writer to the world
And Sunny D
May she rest in peace
Was there for it all
Just as my Shadow
Had held my hands
During the hardest years
Of all.
