ATHENS, GEORGIA, RIVERHILL ROAD APRIL 17 2010
It was a constellation rich night in the early heat of summer.
Me and a pack of poets and musicians gathered together
For a big feast, in a big backyard, with big stories to tell,
And there’s all the time in the world to tell them,
Yeah, and there’s even more time to listen to them.
Georgia’s sweet that way, we talk, we talk a lot.
I want to talk about Donnie, and about this woman he loves.
The man, he’s so beautiful when he’s in love, his voice
Not quite so torn and his eyes not baggy, almost clear.
And it was this woman, this svelte gorgeous mystery, Sanni,
She arose at the just the right moment,
We all started singing famous hayride songs,
He started writing about dawn and dances,
About Halleluiah and victories in a kiss.
It’s like that, Sanni arrived. I swear I saw him smile.
That snap of the seconds when we all thought
He had had his last date with silver linings.
We saw the azaleas and wisteria start blooming.
This looming man for whom happiness was once a taunt.
He was happy. Donnie, singing rock and roll.
Was he ready to set sail up the brown Oconee River?
Was he ready to follow catfish and perch
To the Bear Creek Reservoir?
Not yet. No. He was not ready.
This guys playing an electric guitar.
It was just like that, right now, when Sanni arrived.
She looked at him and smiled and I swear
I heard rainbows shooting down his Vaudeville days.
And today it is just like this, in a day famous for it’s luster,
On an afternoon more full with joy than mosquitoes and mist,
Yep, today it is just like this, Sanni and Donnie have arrived.
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