The Call of the Wild

This morning I awoke and opened a book
The Call of the Wild, the story of a dog named Buck
Keeps getting beaten down but he, he keeps getting up
Oh the beatings they just keep on giving, but he keeps on keeps on living
Oh the days keep, keep compiling
One friend is living it up, while the other one is dying
One just made a big move to Big Island
Another just checked herself into sober living
One friend is out of work, but he walks 10 miles
The other is a carpenter specializing in bathroom tilеs
One is an actor, one is a dog groomer
Onе is in the hospital suffering with a brain tumor
Another lost his house in a forest fire
Another is retired comfortably in Buckinghamshire
One is a crooner traveling the globe
One is doing 40 days in jail in Ohio

What's in store for us?
I don't know
But if I die tomorrow
Please don't
Shed no tears, don't have no pity
I lived my dream, I fell in love with a pretty girl
Don't shed no tears, don't have no pity
I split my time between my two favorite cities
San Francisco and New Orleans
If I died tomorrow don't shed no tears for me

This morning I awoke and opened a book
The Neon Bible by J. K. Toole
I love Dave's young innocence
And his green ways
His deep attachment to his outcasted Aunt Mae
And how he cries when his mother dies while digging her grave
And how at the end he blows her killer away
And how he gets on a train and goes away
Oh, the nights I spend riding a wave
Young memories of my younger days
Lost in the guitar riffs of Machine Gun & Purple Haze
And the music of Led Zeppelin's Presence and Neil Young's Decade
While one guy lives to be 85
Another one gets knocked off his bike at 13 years old and dies
While some went on to live nice decent lives
Some guys died at various ages of suicide
I'm just so glad to have you by my side
I take in all the colors that I see when I walk
I absorb all the conversations with whomever I talk
Cause there's no guarantees, no tomorrow
At 55 I realize I'm living on borrowed time
Tim went at 53
Katy went at 33
Chris went at 13
Bret was thirty-something, I don't remember
But all of these people and their passing hold my life together
All of these people and their passing inspire me daily
I'm so happy to have passed through this life with them

What's in store for us?
I don't know
But if I die tomorrow
Please know
I love each and every one of you
But not as much as I love you
What's in store for us? I don't know
But if I die tomorrow
Please know
That I love each and every one of you
But not as much as I love you