Pie In the Sky

from my new book of poems Coffee With the Bard: 2020 Blues

My Dad passed on when I was very young. As you might expect, I was frightened and heartbroken. And to compound my pain it was around that time I began to hear a lot about heaven. “Your Dad’s in Heaven with God. They’ll be watching over you. Keeping you safe.” Like Dad and God were partners. So here I am, being tag-teamed by this celestial duo. They would see everything I did, maybe even hear my thoughts, for the rest of my life. Yikes! But as I got older, I was told there was a chance I wouldn’t even get into heaven. But I figured even if St. Peter turned me down, my Dad would override him. By the time I reached my teens, the celestial duo had all but disappeared. Music had replaced them. And even though I was a stone rocker, I was eclectic in the music I listened to. Two songs still stick in my psyche. One was That Lucky Old Sun, which I hated, and the other was It Ain’t Necessarily So, which I totally related to. I thought That Lucky Old Sun was just dopey. Who would want to roam around heaven al day being grateful for not having anything useful or interesting to do? No challenges. No quests. No triumphs. For all I knew, no sex. But I didn’t account for the great Ray Charles. Hearing him sing That Lucky Old Sun for the first time changed my whole attitude. I’ve been around that lucky old sun seventy-eight times. And how do I spend my time these days? Singing, dancing, writing poems and lyrics, dreaming about love because Like that lucky old sun, I got nothin’ to do- But roam around heaven all day. copy and paste YouTube That Lucky Old Sun Ray Charles copy and paste YouTube It Ain’t Necessarily So Sammy Davis Jr.

One From the Bard The Subject Was Heaven

Don’t remember who told me That old story won’t fly How you can’t get to heaven before you die But I do know how you look at a thing somehow becomes the song you sing So here goes mine Heaven ain’t just some pie in the sky It’s the flicker of love in your sweetheart’s eye It’s falling all over somebody’s charms and getting all tangled up in somebody’s arms

So sing your song and dance your jig and act like you just don’t give a fig Slip slide around fate and side step strife and do the same dam thing for the rest of your life

Yes sir Slip slide around fate and side step strife and do the same dam thing for the rest of your life ‘Cause heaven ain’t just some pie in the sky It’s the flicker of love in your sweetheart’s eye’ Yep the flicker of love in your sweetheart’s eye the flicker of love the flicker of love the flicker of love the flicker of love