DON'T WAIT, LENA

Don't wait
a moment
write, play, compose
don't lose a Beat poet's
line of thought
for Lena a flower child
of the Sixties
still puts on a rose petal
over a California float
caught up in the frenzy
for the coming parade
in Pasadena
don't wait, Lena
or fritter away
each day
just don't float,
wade or fade away
in the Pacific
but show boat
with your keen wit
as a stand up
or you will sit
with a cup of pea soup
or knit in a rest home
without even a T.V. dinner
see that you don't despair
in a motel room
nor pull your hair out
with a comb
dream, be with it,
Cousin Lena
and renew your youth
desire the earthy dew
with your poetry laurel
cover a green Parnassus
with Jason's memory
it's where the Muses live
on the mountain lift
forget all family quarrels
your lover may still be heard
as a Christmas gift
though not alive
since his ski fall
in Greece
Jason is still
in your golden fleece
he will live in peace
with twenty candles
spread out on the cake
with red wine in a bottle
it's on us, awake, awake
Lena, put your hand
in mine,
forget Whoopi on T.V.
life is a drama that goes on
you have no enemy
in the family
forget the many years
of psychiatry
after Jason's parting
life has a way of outsmarting
any loss
play the trumpet or drums
sing from Samson or Delilah
read Plato or Aristotle
hold onto the cross
or join a free chorus for us
as Handel's Messiah sings
out from the symphony
with timpani crashing.