Have a Good Time

My father died in 2005, two months before Hurricane Katrina in late August.  I realized that weather catastrophes were going to keep getting worse, even as it made vividly clear that climate change was an existential threat to civilization, even though no one seemed to be willing to do anything about it.  It will no doubt preoccupy human affairs from now on, and will be the source of great cataclysms all over the world, until humanity learns the difference between survival and suicide.   

Have A Good Time

That day when the tide came up 
and never went back down;
now the streets are canals and the tide rises up, 
falls back to the center of town.
It’s the 21st century.  
Abandon ye hope, it’s uncharted territory.
Kick it down, build it back up.  
It’s a bad time to be shut down and outa luck.
        Have a good time.

The day all the people left, it was a bad day.
When your home is gone but you gotta keep going on, 
it’s a bad day.
Why stay when it makes no sense?  
When is love gonna the rent?
You gotta kick it down, build it back up.
It’s the wrong time to be hung up and outa luck.
        Have a good time.

The day that my father died was a hot day.
When death grabbed his hand said,  
“Man, you’ve already paid.
Your hell was here on earth, 
but I know what your soul is worth.
When life on the other side looks better than the life 
you always tried to hide, ‘n you’re outa luck, 
        have a good time.”

I been on my own since the better days. 
House was sold a long long time ago.
How’s it feel to be on your own, 
too old to own your own home?
Bad weather coming in, gonna bury you.
Gotta get out but you can’t move or do anything for yourself.  
        It’s a bad time.
            Have a good time 
                in a bad time.  
                    Have a good time.

Copyright © 2005, 2014 by David Larstein, all rights reserved.

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