July 2009,

on advice given in 1975–1977

Late velvet night draws gently in again
And I ponder quietly in my close den
what might have been awaiting me
but I heeded advice from thee.

Sure well meant, there is no doubt.
Those learned views thou didst spout
attempted to show a better way
but simply stole my gift away.

Born was I with such lust for life
and all the learning that is rife
in each endeavour one undertakes
with rich success or great mistakes.

Sure well meant, but sadly done were
thy long dry lectures and pompery
And far worse that they dissuaded me
from venturing whither I might be.

Another life it would have been
and ‘twas imagined. Briefly seen
was that future glimpsed, but now long past,
and with adventurous hopes lies in dust.

Who can say what would have emerged –
sad waste and loss as thou foretold,
or rich experience with a new self evolved
and a treasur’d past from life so bold.

A lesson deep have I learned –
this, the dark wages I have earned:
Share not your dreams with those so certain
that spirited adventure brings only burden
and some vague loss and waste of true vocation.

So, if someone asks you for advice,
you may be tempted to be nice
and proudly offer proper guidance,
and unwittingly cause their dreams to dance
off a precipice into oblivion,
and crush their lives in the dark dominion
of the spiritless conformity of a world
where a living is bought by daring sold.

If someone requests your thoughts on their dreams,
enquire to learn what you have not seen
deep in their heart where springs their passion
and the spark of their imagination.
You might just learn of a world awaiting
that daring spirit born for creating
a new way of thinking and gently inviting
the chaotic richness of Being willing.