The Dutchman

One summer night in my hard-running days 

I found myself drunk in Gord Lightfoot’s house.

He showed me a faded blueprint of his yacht

And said, “God, it’s good to be with old friends”.

He’d never met me before in my life. Or his.

Not that it made any difference that night.

We were there because Steve Goodman

Had come to town, and I was the collateral

damage. My girlfriend sat upon on his lap 

as he performed  The Dutchman song..

I was so jealous that I ended up puking 

On Gord’s front lawn in Rosedale. Imagine.

Steve Goodman was gone soon after.

But I still remember his smile. Her smile. 

And sailing away with Gord on the lee shore

Of Georgian Bay singing like the Dutchman.

“Let us go to the banks of the ocean

Where the walls rise above the Zuider Zee.

Long ago, I used to be a young man

And dear Margaret remembers that for me.”