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I Want to Live not Survive
Untold times the legendary Phoenix transcends ash
Scott and James flamed out in fiery crackups
Sylvia=s intended savior lost the race with gas
Virginia swam until she floundered past the whitecaps
Jackson too ended one last binge at a crash scene
The question echoes still was Papa's gun an accident
Pills and cocktails robbed society of Norma Jean

With such wit and talent why take ye the magnificent
Why does self-destruction rule atop the summit
But then, Georgia lived two lives immortalizing desert glories
Whistler's mother outlasted her brush and palette
And Agatha ever recreates Poirot in mysteries

Lord, send me their cream-like buoyance
Let me know new ways to love, to laugh, to rage, to sing
Let me know the key to unconquerable resilience
I want to live until I die, till proper bells ring

Let no one love a fantasy me of his design
Lord let me just once know unfettered love, given free
Much like the love that took your life and gave me mine
May I be loved for who I am, and let who I am be me
by Norma Cooper c./1993 (pub ver), c./1994, c. 1996 (revision)