Patrick Kelly was a poet with rare insight that reached far beyond his 15 years. You’ve probably never heard of him and the poem you are about to read is the only one he ever wrote… but when he wrote this one, he wrote with the soul of a young man mirrored in millions of others.

Listen with discernment the lines of a searching young man… see if you, like me, hear the cry that is echoed not only by 15-year-olds like him but often among those of us with thinning hair and bifocals:

The sky is blue and way too high

I wish I could get beyond the sky

There’s things up there better than dope

Is there some chance, is there some hope?

Stoned crazy, I’m out of my mind

I know there’s something I cannot find

A home and love, is that what I’ve lost?

I’ve got to get there, whatever the cost

Is there a ticket I need to buy

To get off this earth and into the sky?

I hear there’s a god in that ocean of blue

And he’s calling and crying for me and you.

Is there a ticket I need to buy

To get off this earth and into the sky?

Pat Kelly wrote this masterpiece, carefully pinned it to his shirt, walked to a tree 40 feet from his house, and hung himself. I write, somebody passed on a divine appointment somewhere in this young man’s life.