Just Surviving My friends from youth Where are they? So distant it seems Yet within reach In various places in the vicinity Of Merced County Haven’t seen them in decades Could they be as I at this time Deciphering perplexities of life? I wonder do they wonder On how it’s flying by Like dust in a strong wind? Do they give any energy to thought On these thoughts? Can they picture in their minds Swimming in the canal On Peach Avenue The tadpoles we were After toiling in the fields? Riding around on our Stingrays On Sunset Westside Longview and Rose Out where the hawks and the quail And the crow posed? Making it through the eighth grade By the hairs of our chiny-chin-chins? Dancing at the Portuguese Hall To the sounds of the Rhythm Blenders Cruising in Merced Eating at the Palm Hanging out at Memorial Park? Do they wonder about Wrinkles on their faces Now Spreading like puncture vines? Eye the future And contemplate Fate? My friends From youth Where are you? Let us re-unite And celebrate We were the way we were And we are the way we are Because of that And let us forgive ourselves For not being what we dreamed Then of being And be thankful For arriving so far this far Further than foretold By self-fullfilling prophecies of our time Weighed in on little brown boys