a moment
thirty years delayed
to the chubby, awkward kid
too smart to be cool
for whom this song
was a first kiss
a first love
thirty years
was twice a lifetime
thirty years
was an age unimagined
thirty years
was a thing unfathomable
known only to the ancients
but to the grown-up me
who experienced
at long last
the flawless woodwind notes
of nancy’s lead vocals
the spooky playfulness
of ann’s sweet harmony
the consummate
otherworldly guitarwork
of the band
to that svelter, still awkward man
standing in the cut grass
standing in the warm dark
standing in ecstasy
thirty years was only
a short climb up the stairs
from the vendors of t-shirts
and frosty margaritas
sipped from the necks
of plastic guitars
to arrive at the top of the hill
and our blanket
thrown on the lawn
far above the crowded
auditorium seats
in the company of dear friends
beneath a rippled sunset sky
like the sky above the fey-lands
or the realm of morpheus
and surrounded by thousands
of fellow travelers
each in their own euphoria
augmented by drink
or weed
or nothing but the night
and surrounded by sound
submerged in waves of music
as the band began to play
and surrounded
after all
by these dreams