views in verse on father and son

Dear Father

We bypassed your counsel
For enlightenment of the age,
Dylan,Simon,Morrison, Lennon,
The 60’s marked
The turning of a page.
A place
Where we reached out
For a new found freedom
Not a goat
Chained to a stake
‘Liberty’ - surprise!
Is a basic right,
Not mere acceptance
Of mandate

Our parents however
Somehow seemed immune
To the great change
That was moving along
Without them
As Ginsberg, Kerouac & Leary
Laid waste to
Whatever pretext remained standing
Of the world that they had known.
The Beat Generation had delivered;
Free thinking philosophies,
Organically grown

This new era was however
Still marching in a shadow
In the yoke of a sullen call
Beating to the time
Of yet another war
That seemed to
Sour one’s own precious youth
Unprepared victims in its path
All the while dreading
That heartless free-fall threading
A number that could so easily
Send you off to die
And everyone knew it wasn’t cool
To resile, recluse or ...cry

The unlucky ones
Marched off together
Few Aussies thankfully
Died in its wake
Though most
Didn’t came back the same
And could only routinely
Be drawn or
Fall into a lure
Of bright flowers lain
In an adverse culture
That casually offered
Little comfort
And a cold, closed refrain

So Dad,
In these years
You were cast asunder,
As I recklessly resolved,
These pitched conflicting forces
But I did come back to know you
As you too came to change
Given ample space
into your autumn years.
There was indeed
A great love of life embraced
From the lost years, together due

Until you pained
Into dementia
And I was more than surprised
When I could not
Adequately contain my loss.
My grieving done there...
Your death
Then transformed me
Into a much more welcome tranche
One where
A rolling stone was at last
Now free
To softly gather some moss

Sent from my iPhone Grahame J Flynn Views in verse