At Sixteen

I was sixteen
Kind of Blue
A lot Blue
Blood thin
Body weak
Missing Home
Mad at whites

I heard Miles
Away from Home
Birdland was after Bird
I didn’t know Bird
I just met Miles
But I didn’t know Bird
I knew Diddley
But I didn’t know Bird
So I really didn’t know Diddley

Take Five took me
Like a tributary
Epiphanic proportions
Existential longings
But I didn’t know
I should have been
On the A-train
Instead of a slow boat
From Brooklyn
It took years
To get to Birdland