Why Didn’t I Keep a Diary in 1966?

(In the mood of Satsvarupa das Brahamacari)

Swamiji, they want to know why
I didn’t keep a diary filled
with the life of those days.
I thought everything was in your words,
and they were in books and tape recordings.
I also made notes of them.
What is it I should have saved for the future?
Should I have kept notes like:
“He has brown eyes . . .  
today Hayagriva made a joke . . .
I feel happy in Krishna consciousness,
haven’t smoked pot in two months?”
Maybe I thought it was maya.

But I’m sorry now
I didn’t keep a journal of it all.
I had no presence of mind—
for me the main thing
was that you were restoring me to life—
I was fully occupied
holding on to your lotus feet.  

Maybe I thought there was
no need to write it down
because we would never forget
everything that you did and said.
No, there’s no excuse for it.
Please bless me now, Master,
to live in those days
remembering your kirtanas and
the time I met you
on the street and bowed down
on the sidewalk before you.
As I rose you touched me with your hand.
I was in ecstasy! 
You continued on your morning walk—
and I proceeded to the welfare office
to break through the line of angry workers on strike.