Robbie Brusberg | + Follow Poet |
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Back When

M y brother turned his back to a flaming sky

said, "If ya seen one sunset you seen em all."

I was slowly losing my tiny empire

It was so upsetting to watch it fall

Every night before we'd go to bed

My brother would read from, "The Lord of the Rings"

"We only see shadows", my momma said

We'd light up a joint while she threw the I'Ching

And when she read it, we were all ears

"The superior man always perceivers

In the morning, we'd fire up Mother, and hit the road

I was " Two Toke Tito" back then

The toe headed stoner bandito back when..

Mom threw the TV out the window

when they pretended to land on the moon

I made up my very own language back then

Had my first magic mushroom sandwich back when

They killed those kids at Kent State

and Abbie tried to levitate the Pentagon

"Mother" was our psychedelic house on wheels

We headed south to land with a little more sun

Back then there were Gypsies in Mexico

the locals would gather and wait for the show

Momma told them that we were just hippies and there wouldn't be one

Our cat, "Hash" ran away down in Navidad

at least it was a place where he would never lack something to eat

The darnedest cat that we ever had

He loved to smoke dope and he was never bothered by the heat

We always wanted just one more year

in the tropical mountains where the air was so clear

and the mornings were cool enough to see our breath

We tried at the border for another year

when they turned us away it felt an awful lot like death

That was back then..

Back when Timmy O leary had something a lot cleaner than meth

Now thirty eight years have come and gone

My oldest brother's republican and momma passed on

My real dad did too, but I didn't know him anyway

Now I'm a blue collar stiff fighting to survive

I swore that the system wouldn't take me alive

It makes me feel like dying sometimes, That's all I've got to say


I still remember when

My brother turned his back on a flaming sky

and said, "If ya seen one sunset ya seen em all."

Copyright © Robbie Brusberg | Year Posted 2007

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