Santa Rosa Chapter II

My first true love was a girl named Sharon
She was raised in Santa Rosa, California
An area known for fertile farming and wine

And this story may have been titled “The Wine of Innocence”
But upon years of reflection
It has taken a deeper, fuller taste

When I met Sharon
She was living near Buellton, California
She was 19
As I drove into town I saw her resting with a brunette
Leaning on the hood of a black car
Later I saw her at my friend Dan Hong's house

I was visiting Dan for the weekend
He had a small get-together
Music was playing
People were drinking, flirting, wasting time
It was summer
Someone made the kitchen into a small dance floor
And three of us were dancing
I stepped on Sharon’s foot
And she quickly unloaded a vicious lashing on me
And I was hooked

I later found that her father worked for the State of California in Sacramento
And that her mother lived in Santa Rosa
But they were seperated
I would visit her for a time while she lived in Buellton
And we would walk along dried riverbeds,
Talk, argue, make love,
Drive out to the sea
And as the world revealed itself to me
Sharon unfolded

It was only a few months
Before she moved back to Santa Rosa with her mother
Her money had run out
And she went back to community college
With free rent and a waitress job
I'd visit her up north
And she would walk me down St. John's Street
Where she was raised
And show me the abandoned house she grew up in