Farewell Tour
He put on a show

for the folks.

It was a real

humdinger.

Trouble is no one

was paying attention.

They’d forgotten why

he was there.

It was so much

blind ambition.

They missed

rehearsals

and auditions.

The cast and the

crew thought they

had something new.

But the audience

had lost its way.

Like so many sheep,

predators’ prey.

Scrutinize this,

my wayward friends.

Note the finesse

and fantastic

technique of

the mouse

and his squeak.

Somersaults,

all is topsy-turvy.

Mellotrons and

hurdy-gurdy

produce that

familiar tune,

one that’s ending

far too soon.

A dirge was heard

and I had the urge

to don foolscap

and march, high-stepping

round the cakewalk square,

hollering amid the horns’ blare.

A serenade for a renegade  

on his last legs of his farewell tour.

---Jack Oakes (4/1/07)