This is an ode to the people who
Are just like me
And the people who are not

(The first editions, first drafts
Copyrights and copycats)

This is an ode to my personal repertoire
Biographies and memoirs
Fiction and less so
My 300 songs and symphonies
That save me from reality

(Spirit me away from my circular thought pattern
Take me from this world obsessed)

This is an ode to all the people
I have seen
The books I’ve read and beauty
I’ve known

(My masterpieces
My healing charms)

This is an ode to those
Who feel sometimes as if
The whole world would cave in
And that they alone must hold it up,
Atlas in their own right

(Need more strength?
Take some of mine.)

This is an ode to the people
Family, friends, those who are both
My guardians and those I guard
My crutches and my patients

(Who sometimes test my patience
And I love them all the more)

This one’s for the people
The real people
Who live and love and laugh and cry
Who know how to be alive
and are.