I watch a lot of Youtube, performances and interviews. The other night on the Kennedy Center Honors, Paul McCartney was being honored. Steven Tyler was one of the performers. He was terrific! He did a medley of Lennon-McCartney songs, these are the lyrics from those songs:

“She came in through the bathroom window
Protected by a silver spoon
But now she sucks her thumb and wanders
By the banks of her own lagoon

Didn’t anybody tell her?
Didn’t anybody see?
Sunday’s on the phone to Monday
Tuesday’s on the phone to me
Oh yeah…”

“Once there was a way to get back homeward
Once there was a way to get back home
Sleep pretty darling, do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby

Golden slumbers fill your eyes
Smiles await you when you rise
Sleep pretty darling do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby”

“Boy, you’re going to carry that weight,
Carry that weight a long time
Boy, you’re going to carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
I never give you my pillow
I only send you my invitations
And in the middle of the celebrations
I break down

Boy, you’re going to carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
Boy, you’re going to carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time”

“Oh yeah, all right
Are you gonna be in my dreams, tonight?
Love you, love you
Love you, love you
Love you, love you
And in the end, the love you take
Is equal to the love you make”

Suzanne for the First Time

A young, gorgeous
brunette in Waikiki
sat on a small stage
with her guitar in a bar
and a song left the parking area
and drifted into the hotel’s
concrete structure above us.
I asked Aleta to take the kids
up to our room, I had to find out
who was singing that song.
I took a seat inside mesmerized:
“And Jesus was a sailor
when he walked upon the water…”
When she was through with
“…wearing rags and feathers
from Salvation Army counters,”
I asked her, “Was that YOUR song?
That was fantastic!”
“No, that’s Leonard Cohen’s, ‘Suzanne,'”
and my heart, mind, and soul
exploded into the next galaxy –
And the younger me then
was never the same.
1971 Hawaii.

Pretending to Be Retired

Take part of the day off,
take lunch, take a nap,
check the checkbook balance –
Get a little nervous
if not erratic/neurotic,
re-balance the rudder
and both oars,
park beneath the tree,
pretend to be retired.
Answer the cellphone,
“Yes, I can be there
in 15 minutes.”
Move it!
Like riding shotgun
on a herd of turtles,
lift that checkbook balance!

Friday’s Serenade

The air conditioning’s
all the way up,
Friday’s seagulls are dancing
in front of the truck,
reluctant to get out of the way,
acting like the waterfront
belongs to them only,
their grey and white
and black wingtips
competing only
with the 200 homing pigeons
also calling my
favorite napping place
their home.
Leonard’s “So Long, Marianne,”
serenades us all,
while this day is over at 2 p.m.,
retired or not at 74.
Pigeons can obviously dance and circle
without ever getting dizzy.

Eldin Bernecky

The “Murphy Brown” TV program
from years ago had a Handyman
as a supporting character.
His name was Eldin and he wore coveralls
with shoulder straps and one strap
was always down or loose at best
depicting him as a tad untethered
or maybe just wry with humor.
I have a valued Benicia customer
for maybe the last 10 years,
we are always doing something
around their home, repairs,
touch-up painting, shelving
in the house and garage,
hanging art objects
in the yard and home.
I wear no coveralls, but we occasionally
refer to me as Eldin. The name fits
but we’re not sure why, but that’s OK.
Everybody can use a good alias
every once in awhile.

Triage Nurse
Sometimes ya gotta be
the Triage Nurse or worse:
blanket the cold,
fix soup for the old,
bandage and kickstart again
those you can still save –
Go home when it’s through,
and avoid or repair
the tire tracks you’ve found
rambling through
your winter’s stew.
Start again tomorrow.

Peter Bray lives works, and writes in Benicia.
He’s written this column since 2008.