My playlist for the ride included Eric Clapton, The Police, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, The Allman Brothers, The Doobie Brothers, and Jeff Buckley. I will be here a few days to visit friends and to get the 5000 mile service done on the Road Glide Ultra. Then, I will ease into the ride out to see my good friends Sandra and Clyde in San Benito, Texas. They have a ride planned out to New Mexico and I may ride with them. Once in New Mexico, it is not a whole lot further to be in California. I feel drawn to that wonderful state with the variety of scenery and the many gracious people I have met through social networking.
I hope to quickly get into the rhythm of a long ride. Sorting out interesting routes at night for the next day, checking weather and road conditions, and building interesting playlists for the iPod. On the road, I get into the zone with all my focus on the ride but my mind also has lots of time to work through any issues and it is also when many ideas for poetry get tested and worked out so I can write them out at the end of the day.
The route today was simply a ride up US Hwy #1 from Sebastian to Daytona with a few side trips and a short blast up I-95. No photography today. I wasn’t in the mood after a fun farewell party at the cabin with my Sebastian friends. I probably had too much fun judging from my need for some Tylenol and a mouth like the bottom of a birdcage.
One of the songs on today’s place list is on Jeff Buckley’s Grace album. I love the vocal range and ethereal sound of Jeff’s voice. His cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah is mesmerizing and transformative. The subject matter of the lyrics is on one of my favorite topics for my poetry: love and relationships. Cohen’s imagery and choice of words to describe the emotions and intensity of the relationship and the intimate contact is simply beautiful.
There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show that to me, do you?
But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
To know that intensity and to feel the exotic and erotic waves of feelings, both physical and emotional, is what I want to experience.
As I ride westward over the next weeks I will be embarking on a new adventure. I will meet new people, make new friends, and perhaps if it is my destiny, enter into a loving relationship. Time will tell, as the saying goes.
I am looking forward to the ride as I shift from the sadness of departing from a place I love and from people who have become very dear to me, to the excitement of seeing each new wonder around the next corner. I will keep blogging as I go forth and take the many people now falling my blog posts with me on this continuing Spirit Quest.
Lyrics for Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah:
Well I heard there was a secret chord
that David played and it pleased the Lord
But you don’t really care for music, do you?
Well it goes like this:
The fourth, the fifth,
The minor fall and the major lift
The baffled king composing Hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah…
Your faith was strong but you needed proof
You saw her bathing on the roof
Her beauty and the moonlight overthrew you
She tied you to her kitchen chair
She broke your throne and she cut your hair
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah…
Baby I’ve been here before
I’ve seen this room and I’ve walked this floor (you know)
I used to live alone before I knew you
And I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
and love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah…
There was a time when you let me know
What’s really going on below
But now you never show that to me, do you?
But remember when I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah…
Maybe there’s a God above
All I’ve ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you
And it’s not a cry that you hear at night
It’s not somebody who’s seen the light
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah…
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah…
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah
From the still untitled book
Darkness is falling
Glazings of progressive greys
Over the blue green day
Hollow traffic hums
And children’s voices fading
Behind drawn curtains
Distant Don Henley
Ballads playing from the dark
Beyond a single lamp
And my thoughts lay
Quiet, reflective on this day
Shades of blue and grey
The warming glow
Of the solitary light shines
Casting yellow shadows
My heads lifts slowly
Listening to the driveway gravel
And quiet footsteps
Walking to the door
I open it wide to greet you
A tender touch
The room brightens
As you enter the rising light
Smiling eyes
I close the door
On the passing bleak night
Knowing all is well
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