DONKEY FALLS ALONG ELEPHANT'S WAY - MY FIRST LOVER BRAD BOYERS!

DONKEY FALLS ALONG ELEPHANT’S WAY

We met by chance in '82
Crunching autumn leaves
West Virginia’s colored hues
Brad Boyers had his goals
While shouting the praises of Alan Cranston!

Lost touch for years
He got involved
Memories never faded
Romantic notions of first love
Surrounded by an Allegheny Forest
Almost died in time’s firestorm

Reading his old letters
A futuristic gubernatorial path according to him
Never coming to full fruition
The path strewn with expectations
A shaky past of a Nomad named Brad!

Unbelievable circumstances
Befell his pool of downward coasting
Watery-eyed dreams of political aspirations
Rising up the Legislative ladder
State rep, Connecticut mayors, bouts for the Governor's Mansion
Elephant's destiny knocked his Donkey away
While senators met, recessed
Ingested among his constituents

Arizona bound to become a chef
Passion for sauces, a blur of brisket
Rise in weight, loss of hair
Wouldn't have cared
Because my love for Brad Boyers would have bared

The grandest cooks make the greatest politicking reps
Knowing the right ingredients, the correct mix
It's one for all, and all for the Bipartisan fix
His golf game hadn't suffered much
Even when joining ranks of the new young Aficionados

Brad arrived back home
The un-conquering hero
Looking for an outlet
Wanting to get involved in people's causes

The political arena, that's where he fell
That was his place, his platform, his Nirvana bell
Anywhere away from the painful alone feelings
Tittering on the edge, an awful retch!

On a whim, the Internet allowed him to be found and contacted
Almost 20 years after us
By then he was already West
Cooking up a storm
Drinking in 'Phish' (his favorite musical group)

The putt was his game, he knew everyone's name
Had a certain something going strong, something gained
Those kind eyes gelled over with despair
What addled his flare?

So Brad headed home
To his destiny calling
A new position for the rabble
Gave it his all, settled in for the countdown to disaster

We spoke one day when I reached a shallow depression
Of losing yet another true love
Telling him, my first, that the second perished in an auto wreck
Although not truth, dear Brad believed
That the one so much like him had died

His words of condolences
Set my own heart aflutter
But 3 days after, reality hit cruel and bitter
Wrenching his life-force through a car window
On the wrong ramp of a freeway
He was killed instantly
In a flash of mashed glass

Letters stopped, phone calls ended, his vibe faded to black
Until months later his Internet obit
Floated up from the sea

His name, the cause, his cause, those he loved, all listed in a row
Finally coming into his own
If not for too much spirits swallowed out of habit
He is missed, as I sit like a loose tooth
Out of place yet feeling in sync, but without Brad