old ways

time flies
and we all know it
and we’ve all seen it
and we’ve all shaken our
heads at it

but I sat down with
the great divide fellas
over a cup of coffee last week
and cut through the years
and the b.s. with one gut laugh

and it felt good

and it seemed like a
rip in time…
some sort of funky worm hole
we all crawled out of

those of you who knew our story
know that it wasn’t a pleasant
split and not unlike a bad divorce

but bands break up

I whined once to ray hubbard
and he deadpanned to me:
“hell son, even the beatles broke up.”

but after a while a year turns into
two and then three, etc…

it’s like when you’ve talked to someone
too long to ask them their name…

I hadn’t talked to a couple of the
guys in 8 years

yet there we were
and it was very surreal

we grew up together
and did not take no for an answer together
and knew so little about the music
business that we weren’t scared of it all

reminds me of the guy clark line:

“he did not know that he could not fly, so he did.” – from THE CAPE

I admit I carried around a lot of
mixed up negative feelings about that
band for a long time

maybe, enough time floated by
that all of the negative faded away
and now there are only the thoughts
of  the good times and laughter

maybe this is what you do
when you get older

I imagine mending fences that can be
mended is never a bad thing

it felt really good to hug everyone’s neck
and honestly apologize for any hurt I may
have caused them by the choices I made

and still stand by

and would make again

I’ve always followed a weird voice
in the back of my mind,
call it what you will

and the path hasn’t always
been pleasant or easy

and more often than not
it has left me humbled
and far from exhalted

but I’m still in awe of an
E chord distorted and blaring
out of a speaker

and mumbling until I hit
the right babble stream and following
it down
without editing for as long as I can

so I keep on rambling down the track

and I’m proud to be able to hear the name
The Great Divide again and be proud
of what we accomplished as a group

and not let the pettiness and weakness
steal an ounce of enjoyment
that everyone in that band deserves

I’m glad we can still call each other friends

after all is said and done, there are times
when I was a lousy friend

the love was there,
but the tools needed sharpening

and time does hone that blade