onstage at your local town fair

when you

see them onstage, the old

boys,

now old men,

the old bands

from the 60's and 70's you wonder

how long

can they keep going on.

still with the long hair,

though grey now,

the beards

and mustaches,

adorned still with

the leather pants and feathers

sticking out

of top hats,

boots and vests

from an era long-ago.

some are helped out in

wheelchairs,

or on the arms of care

takers,

managers and 

ad men

from dead radio.

they play in smaller

venues,

no longer filling a stadium.

you hardly recognize

the songs

when they sing them now,

but at least

you have got the right to say

i saw them,

before they were gone.