I wrote this after my senior year of college; to remember our tribe that was bonded together by September 11 and Dave Matthews Band. Our tribe helped me through those days; I hope we helped each other through it.
The Story of Us: An Anecdote of a Tribe’s Year
It’s 2 am, I’m drunk again
And I think of how many times this
Motley group of individuals has shared that line
After a night with our bartender,
Drinking a hope to happy years.
We spent endless nights
Trying to find rhyme and reason in this
Scary and beautiful life, always wondering
Maybe if things had been slightly different we could be somebody else.
But we made the choices we made and those choices
Led us to each other:
The poet, the reason, the humor, the singer, the
perspective
All bringing something entirely unique
To an unforgettable tribe.
And there we were,
In our loft, our Camelot,
Sitting on top of the world with our legs hanging free,
Eating, drinking, and being merry for tomorrow
Was just a new day, like everyday,
To do it all over again.
Cause it turns out not where, but who you’re with that really matters.
It was a typical situation in a
Not so typical time- crazy,
The world was
Out of control, but so were we,
Right side up or upside down, who knew- who cared.
The “Jesus” that’s who.
We were at a time when
Under the weight of life things seemed
So much better on the other side,
But within the solace of each other’s
Nonjudgmental judgments
It was always the other side- the better side.
You and me have a better time than most can dream
Magical,
Unfathomable,
Timeless,
Something that no matter where our lives take us
She will go stumbling through her memories
And remember of a time when we let the hours roll by
Doing nothing for fun.
And how did we get to be the chosen few,
Lucky enough to come together
In a year when so many things fell apart.
We were people in every direction
So different
Exactly the same,
Where you end, where I begin.
And I know you because I know me
And I know
There’s not a moment to lose in the game,
So we have to celebrate,
And celebrate we did
Because this year especially we learned
That life is short but sweet for certain.
But you know that, don’t you?
Of course you do
Because we learned it together.
All night sessions, questioning life, investigating the truth, and
Doing what we needed to do
To make ourselves feel just a little safer,
And just a little more valiant,
And just a little more comfortable living where we were.
And whether that’s right or wrong
It makes us want to stay for a while,
Or forever
If it were up to me.
But as all things go, some will leave
And I’ll wonder why they had to go
Why would you care to get out of this place?
You and me and all of our friends are
Such a happy human race.
Others will have to move
And I will lose my best friend and thus my soulmate.
My grace is gone,
And I will cry
For I will have lost
For the first and only time this year.
And I hate losing!
But you knew that too, didn’t you?
And we all thought for a moment that
This good time would never end,
But we all knew it would have to.
We were an era that began abruptly one
Almost beautiful Tuesday morning when we awoke
To an empty sky,
An empty sky that inevitably, filled our hearts with each other.
And we could be sure…
I will be sure,
That I will not lie in my grave
Wondering if I spent my living days well,
Because I will have spent them with you.
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