Why is it they had to leave
so long before their times
leaving folks like us to grieve
and write our second class poor rhymes?

Their ghosts still dwell within my head
in their writing and their song
maybe they're not really dead
while we still read or sing along.

Poe who led such troubled life,
who still resounds just like before,
whose poems cut like pendelum's knife.
When shall he write now? Nevermore

And Judy took us with her voice
to places we have never been.
Was her departure her own choice?
"Over the Rainbow" brings her back again.

Karen's voice so sweet and pure
left us starving for much more.
Hank's lonely whippooorwills endure.
"The King"''s Ghetto still cuts to the core.

What songs will the Bopper now not sing
or others on that fateful plane?
Who'd not want Marilyn to bring
best wishes on our own birthday?

Hendrix's magical guitar.
Joplin's voice so rough from drink.
Have they really gone so far?
Are they still there between each blink?

And the list goes on and on.
Perhaps their talents were too great.
Their live's accounts soon overdrawn.
They dwell now beyond that final gate.