Yearning for the Past

                                          I’m lost here in this crazy town

                                             Watching madness all around.

                                             People dressed in such a way

                                        That invites everyone who comes to stay.

                                              Flowers seem to never end

                                             And every neighbor is a friend.

                                              Best of all, there is this man

                                          Who seems to come from another land.

                                             He sings his poetry majestically

                                         And he taught me just what lust can be.

                                                I see him wander, lost inside

                                            This pretty place he made to hide.

                                         It’s his madness that will bring him fame.

                                           People will come because he’s insane.

                                          But they’ll miss the rest, the bigger point

                                              That at one time he could anoint

                                        His whole generation with the strangest things

                                          And only they can feel it when he sings.

                                          Their children may now yearn to know

                                        But they will never have the strength to go

                                                  Back to San Francisco, ’67;

                                       When the whole town was a brilliant heaven.

                                          And the Lizard King ruled his court so fair

                                         With a secret truth that was always there.