Party Crowd

The dance floor is swimming with fine looking women
and boys on the move or the make
The music is pumping, and this place is jumping
it’s turned into quite a clambake

The whiskey’s been flowing, with no signs of slowing
and everyone’s starting to glow
A hell of a party, Budweiser, Bacardi,
we’re set to play one more great show

There’s nothing wrong with a party crowd
No harm in getting drunk and being loud
I’ve done my share of that; I’m not too proud
To say much more than should have been allowed
But I’m too old for drinking shots all night
Got far too much to lose to start a fight
Just ’cause someone looked at me not quite right …
I’ll take the corner table out of sight.
I’d rather sit and talk here with my friends
And let some nothing slip in my weekend
Maybe a little more, but it depends
On who else is here when the party ends.

The long bar is littered with empties and glitter,
they’re packed like sardines through the door;
and out on the hardwood the ugly, bad and good
are making points and keeping score

Yeah, it’s a great shindig, who knew it’d get this big,
it’s almost not quite in control
Who knows much longer, before this great throng here
makes diamonds from our lumps of coal

Sometimes it’s great in a party crowd
Big fun in getting drunk and being loud
I’ve been the center, and I’m not too proud
To say more often than should be allowed
But I’m too old for drinking Jack ’til two
Much more than one or two and I’m half through,
Too tired to wait all night for a pool cue
And then exhausted, crawl on home to you.
I’d rather sit and nurse a single beer
Make it a hobby instead of career
That way I’m sure at least my head is clear
when this whole party crowd disappears.

Last call was just sounded, the bar is surrounded
with elbows, slurred orders and shouts
While each senorita makes themselves look sweeter
to start weeding their prospects out

One more upbeat number, last test for the drummer,
sing out, sing along strong and loud
Bound up in the action, in the satisfaction
of being in the party crowd.

There’s nothing wrong with a party crowd
No harm in getting drunk and being loud
I’ve done my share of that; I’m not too proud
To say much more than should have been allowed
But I’m too old for drinking shots all night
Got far too much to lose to start a fight
Just ’cause someone looked at me not quite right …
I’ll take the corner table out of sight.
I’d rather sit and talk here with my friends
And let some nothing slip in my weekend
Maybe a little more, but it depends
On who else is here when the party ends.

27 DEC 2005

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After a Line in Rumi

Between the acts on the great stage
the green room swells with life;
like ocean waves the movement never stops.

Each spent performer, bathed in sweat,
absorbed into their entourage,
glows with the energy of the crowd.

Around the curtain’s edge, those next
to play are bathed in the footlights;
their skins mirrored white phosphorus.

All are intoxicated with a sense of time
on the heady brew of ideas and wild talk;
each creates their own constellation.

It seems to me an India:
a festival begun ten thousand years
ago, with millions in the band.*

I came here as a stranger, long ago;
although I know the hour I arrived,
I could not say which door I used.

With jugglers, clowns, actors and saints
I’ve sung and played and swooned;
the stage is shared with all who care to dance.

Outside the street is dark; no lights
run down the path that leads away.
The door is open; no one stands in wait.

I do not know the ticket price,
nor if I walked or came by car.
It does not matter, either way.

The lights are dimmed, another song
from silence rises into form;
I know the words as if they were mine.

When will it end? I cannot say;
each claims their after-party rights,
as if this show will ever end.

I’ll sing as long as I’m allowed,
and stay until its done;
there are fruits and wine enough.

And once I’m filled and all sung out
whoever brought me to this place
will have to take me home
.

17 DEC 2004

* Bhagavan Das, in his biography, describes India upon his arrival in the early 60’s as “a big outdoor festival that had been going on for 10,000 years, with 10 million people in the band.”

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A Thought on Religious Tolerance

If you get drunk on a half bottle of wine, what do you care how many cases of other liquor the tavern holds? — Ramakrishna

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