Farewell Song

An original poem written to the rhythm + melody of Bob Dylan's song "Don't Think Twice". Written in honor of a long-term friendship that ended recently.

---"after Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice”

 

I never wanted to fall in love with you, no,

I knew the trouble too well

of falling in wi' someone young as you, girl;

oh, what tales I could tell.

I, a patent no one, an alley-cat,

thin and clipped-eared, and chasing rats.

But you came and lifted me up from all that.

Don't look back, it's alright.

 

And I didn't ask for you to light my way, girl,

with your wandering star.

I just wanted to travel ‘long beside you,

without knowing how far.

Once there was darkness, then came light:

dripping pearls, you burnished my night;

You were th'most beautiful waste of my time.

Now don't look back, it's alright.

 

I'm sorry that I couldn't be your partner

for more'n a year and a day.

And I'm sorry that I couldn't be your mentor;

didn't want to anyway.

All of your questions went over my head;

I just wanted to sit with you, and break bread.

But that didn't fit with the film in your head.

Now don't look back, it's alright.

 

Maybe I'm the villain of the story,

though you treated me a saint.

Many o' my poems pro'ly were too gory;

I, a one-time lonely haint.

But I can't say that I'd go back again

and cleave my heart a second time,

if I could hide all the thorns with a rhyme.

So don't look back, it's alright.

 

 

*Lines by Bob Dylan used, in altered form:

--You just kinda wasted my precious time

--But don't think twice, it's all right

Author's Note

Professionally unpublished, but not seeking criticism.
https://bsky.app/profile/nomdelamer.bsky.social/post/3mi4cypwhek2n