Derek
Flipped out,
A life of loneliness,
The pressure from religion,
A screaming intensity of excitement and activity
(Over nothing)
Followed by a decline into sadness and despair
(Of nothing):
Too cruel to say he’s gone,
But he went.
Derek
High
And Derek
Low
Blossomed in defeat,
The flower and shell opening,
The world carved up before him;
All was open for those who knew.
But openness doesn’t get you a job,
Won’t help you find a girlfriend;
The fragility and tenderness of the underside exposed
Does nothing in this world without stability.
Derek:
Was it chemicals in his brain?
Did he really go insane?
Or was the ‘flip’ a bigger version of our daily lives,
When we too jump and jerk around in surprise
At what Life throws our way?
Derek had to stay in a home.
Well, that was the end of a life short-lived,
The roll-ups, the baccy, the clothes slightly tacky -
No, I can’t go on.
Derek lived,
But now the world was different, at least for him,
And I looked in and on.
