Should You Ever Get Back to California

[Paul de Denus]

Should you ever get back to California, remember it for me for I cannot.

I only have dreams, patchwork gardens of dusty emotion over run with sun and so much growth.

We planted our feet firmly; we never died.

Are dreams ever real?

Tell me if you get back to California, remember it for me for maybe we never lived there, only dreamt it.

And ain’t that what they say?

[Jamie Hogan]

The writing is sublime, and the honesty and depth crushing. I'm with Bill F, Paul. This one goes on the top shelf, buddy. Wow.

[Paul de Denus]

Thank you all for the comments. It does sound folksy now that I read it that way. Where's Jackson Browne?

[Gita]

Sometimes I like something but can't express why. Then I look to Bill Floyd's comment and, poof. There it is. Dusty folk song and longing. You summoned up the way I feel about New Orleans in the 70s,  pitch perfectly.

[Bill Floyd]

Paul, this is one of my favorites you've ever written.  The feel of a dusty folk song back in there somewhere, but a haunted one, slightly deranged with longing.  Just outstanding on every level.

[Diana E. Backhouse]

I love the second line with its patchwork gardens of dusty emotion. Very expressive!

[Robert McEvily]

I'd say dreams are the realest unreal things in the world.