Upon the News of Tom Johnson’s Demise

We live many lifetimes, as Shakespeare puts it ..."our acts being seven ages..." Those who knew me between the ages of 14 and 34 knew a troubled soul. Luckily, and with much love from my family, and friends, I found my way safely to the present, but when someone from the pleasantest parts of my tumultuous past are now gone forever, I mourn all the more deeply. Tom Johnson was a leader. He led by example. I have always admired and respected him.His was a life, brief though it was, well lived.

                                    Good bye Tommy, I can say in all honesty I hardly knew ye...

You think maybe it’s time

I wake up?

Take my place in this world?

Earn the term “brother, friend, neighbor,”

And “Husband” to my girl…

Ever the student, never the teacher

What have I really learned?

That the sun is warm

And fire hot

And both have the power to burn

Some folks wander through life

While others blaze a trail

What is the point I wonder.

Are winners just losers

Who know how to fail?

Some just seem to know better

Others seem lost all the time

What’s the difference between searching and finding

The right words to complete my line?

And all the love both given and received

Is what drives us through the dark.

As all our moments of trial and triumph

Are numbered with death’s final mark.