THE OTHER SIDE OF FORTY.                              
by JACK HUDSON.



On the other side of midnight
is when your thoughts begin to clear.
And the other side of forty
is when you start to lose your fears.
Good guitars and broken hearts,
get better with the years.
You learn to know what's worth the love
and what ain't worth tears.

All those years of misspent youth.
I recall sometimes and grin.
Some mistakes I'm still ashamed of,
especially those I made again.
Ah, but that's the way it goes,
it's what they call the learning curve.
And I've wound up in some ditches
because of those bends and nerve.


Some of my friends mortgaged their future
and got no change from the past.
Spent like there was no tomorrow
but that day breaks all too fast.
I have wasted my share of time,
hanging in for the rock 'n' roll.
But the band went and called in sick
but sick of what we were never told.


All the rocks you write your destiny on
and lay in your foundations.
Get crushed under the wheels
on that road of good intentions.
The road goes on forever.
I thank whoever for not too much harm.
But curse those who waste your time,
crimes of the heart and false alarms.


I've heard most of the best, and Hudson is better than all of them.