Many years ago
Huddled in an anxious crowd
A poised arena waited in a smoky haze
Stacked amplifiers glowed with little red eyes
Then a drumbeat broke through the murmurs
Multicolored lights flashed in unison
The band materialized on stage
The angelic chords were struck
Ten thousand little flames hailed
Ten thousand minds opened
Ten thousand voices arose
Ten thousand hearts leapt
Up into a great beyond
The driving beat carried us
Through riff and rhythm
On the wind of a cosmic voice
Along a path of passionate dreams
Toward a truth we would always embrace

Many years later
Alone and hopelessly lost
In a quiet home in the forest
A loaded pistol laid cold and ready
Hope drained from cratered chaos
Of a life strewn into broken pieces
Then an old song pierced the still air
An old feeling crept back again
One flame flickered
One mind hesitated
One voice sang along
One heart beat again
And out of a desperate chasm
A forgotten spirit carried me
Through riff and rhythm
On the wind of a cosmic voice
Through the rain of those stormy days
To a life I would learn to love again

A few months later
Lonely but not truly alone
In an anonymous American town
Last notes written without music
A final encore faded into silence
From a world singing out of tune
For the man with the cosmic voice
So revered and yet selfless
A hundred million flames went out
A hundred million minds stopped
A hundred million voices cried
A hundred million hearts mourned
In a world he made more beautiful
His echoes still carry us on
Through riff and rhythm
On the wind of a cosmic voice
Along a path of new inspiration
In a flight we will never truly finish


[In memory of Bradley Delp, 1951-2007]