"Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout" by Gary Snyder

Down valley a smoke haze
Three days heat, after five days rain
Pitch glows on the fir-cones
Across rocks and meadows
Swarms of new flies.

I cannot remember things I once read
A few friends, but they are in cities.
Drinking cold snow-water from a tin cup
Looking down for miles
Through high still air.

"County Fair" by Bruce Springsteen

Every year when summer comes around
They stretch a banner 'cross the main street in town
You can feel somethin's happenin' in the air
Well, from Carol's house up on Telegraph Hill
You can see the lights going up out in Soldiers Field
Getting ready, for the county fair

County fair, county fair,
Everybody in town'll be there
So come on, hey we're goin' down there
(hey) Little girl with the long blond hair
Come win your daddy one of them stuffed bears
Baby, down at the country fair

Now you'll be hangin' tight when we hit the top
And that rollercoaster's ready to drop
And your braggin', how you wasn't even scared
Well baby you know I just love the sound
Of that pipe organ on the merry-go-round
Baby, down at the county fair

County fair, county fair,
Everybody in town'll be there
So come on, hey we're goin' down there
(hey) Little girl with the long blond hair
Come win your daddy one of them stuffed bears
Baby, down at the country fair

At the north end of the field they set up a stand
And they got a little rock and roll band
People dancin' out in the open air
It's James Young and the Immortal Ones
Two guitars, (baby) bass and drums
Just rockin', down at the county fair

(well) County fair, county fair
Everybody in town'll be there
So come on, we're goin' down there
Little girl with the long blond hair
Come win your daddy one of them stuffed bears
Baby, down at the county fair

Now it's getting late before we head back to town
We let that fortune wheel spin around
Come on mister tell me what's waiting out there
On my way out I steal a kiss in the dark
Hope I can remember where our car's parked
Baby, out at the county fair

Now off down the highway there's the last stream of cars
We sit a while in my front yard
With the radio playin' soft and low
I pull Carol close to my heart
And I lean back and stare up at the stars

"Tryin' To Get To Heaven" by Bob Dylan

The air is getting hotter
There's a rumbling in the skies
I've been wading through the high muddy water
With the heat rising in my eyes
Every day your memory grows dimmer
It doesn't haunt me like it did before
I've been walking through the middle of nowhere
Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

When I was in Missouri
They would not let me be
I had to leave there in a hurry
I only saw what they let me see
You broke a heart that loved you
Now you can seal up the book and not write anymore
I've been walking that lonesome valley
Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

People on the platforms
Waiting for the trains
I can hear their hearts a-beatin'
Like pendulums swinging on chains
When you think that you lost everything
You find out you can always lose a little more
I'm just going down the road feeling bad
Trying to get to heaven before they close the door

I'm going down the river
Down to New Orleans
They tell me everything is gonna be all right
But I don't know what "all right" even means
I was riding in a buggy with Miss Mary-Jane
Miss Mary-Jane got a house in Baltimore
I been all around the world, boys
Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door

Gonna sleep down in the parlor
And relive my dreams
I'll close my eyes and I wonder
If everything is as hollow as it seems
Some trains don't pull no gamblers
No midnight ramblers, like they did before
I been to Sugar Town, I shook the sugar down
Now I'm trying to get to heaven before they close the door