Think for yourself and question authority
The mantra of Timothy Francis Leary
Was a natural step further than the initial
Turn on, tune in, drop out
The most dangerous man in America
Gave Social Dimensions of Personality for a PhD
And sought to push, to change and not to conform
So that by 1964 his phrase
You have to go out of your mind to use your head
Made merit of behavioural ambiguity
He learned more about the brain and its possibilities
In five hours with mushrooms
Than in 15 years of study
With Ginsberg and LSD
The word was spread
Behaviour is affected; better than through regular therapy
Alcoholism – cured
Criminal behaviour – cured
Dismissed from MIT
He established the League of Spiritual Discovery
Until arrest for possession
Of a small amount of Mary Jane
On his wife's person – 30 years and $30,000
In bed with Lenon and Yoko
John penned the Bed-In song, Come Together
Jailed in '70, he was psych tested using his own tests
And escaped!
Algeria and Switzerland beckoned
But from take off in Kabul, extradition followed landing in the UK
To face 95 years in Fulsom jail
Enough time to write the Starseeds...
On release in '76
He toured the circuits
The musos, movers and shakers attracted
And graduated to circuits of electronics and virtual reality
Until prostate cancer cut him in '96
Amongst friends and carers – even under videotape
The moody Legend,
Hair of The Seeker
His varied voice is still heard, with nervous chuckle,
Wherever the others are found
His was a storied life that contrived no convention or robot poetry
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