The Awakening of Ricky Bilkenbuck

Jeffrey Mindell

This is a poem for Ricky Bilkenbuck
A middle aged guy who was down on his luck
He couldn't have fun because he was getting too old
No more games or toys, or so he'd been told

Ricky worked a terrible job behind a desk
He had so many bills to pay, he barely could rest
To his wife and kids he rarely spoke
He was worried and anxious from the moment he woke

Ricky Bilkenbuck was just a regular guy
And so he'd thought he would be until the day he die
Until one night, he went to sleep
He dreamed a dream that went quite deep

When he awoke again, he was rather confused
Am I awake or dreaming, he quietly mused
Perhaps these dreams are one and the same
Perhaps this life is only a game

Then across his face, spread a slight little smirk
He thought to himself, "I'm not going to work."
He roused his kids right out of their bed
His wife was thinking he was out of his head

They spent the day in jammies, eating cookies and punch
They ate marshmallows for dinner and candy for lunch
They skipped and played and sang silly old songs
Ricky hadn't had so much fun, his whole life long

The last I saw Ricky, he was right on his way
To amuse himself with some new form of play
When I inquired about what he had done
He said, "It's just a dream, might as well have fun!"

So if you don't like your dream, who's to say
You can't change it right now, right here - right today
Ricky did it, and so can you
If you don't like your dream, it's the least you can do

Jeffrey Mindell is a poet, writer, lawyer and cartoonist, but not necessarily in that order.  He can be reached at jmindell@gmail.com