Sunday, April 20, 2008
Aside Effect
Uncle Bubba had to get away; he just felt the urge to take a hike. He set out to ascend the wooded mountain behind his place. As he neared the crest he anticipated seeing a clearing that he knew lied ahead; perhaps he could catch a glimpse of some wildlife. He could see the sunlight showing through the thinning forest ahead. Stepping carefully through the wooded underbrush he was all too surprised to see an old dude and his old lady sitting side by side in old claw-foot bathtubs. Guarding his eyes from their wrinkled, naked carcasses he asked what on earth they might be doing there. Apparently they had come to see Alice…who ever she is.
Miss Edsel Corsair
The wind knows how I feel. The sun knows how I feel. The road knows how I feel. The grass knows how I feel. Sitting upright in the saddle the earth revolves beneath my wheels. The byway curves in a long lazy bend that turns for miles. Adrift in my thoughts a homestead comes into sight. There, under the shady arc of a live oak tree is a white and sea-foam green 1958 Edsel Corsair with a continental spare wheel pressed snuggly against the trunk. Her striking beauty is dwarfed by the green landscape yet bright enough to detract from the old white clapboard house tucked ever further beneath the gray Spanish moss curtain.
How can that scene, that slice of time, take one’s heart back to an era that predates one’s birth? A flash of a vision that ignites a longing for what was; a simpler time. Life was never less complicated, but it was less hurried. In an age before designer labels on t-shirts, accountability was faithfully focused on family and not mandated by government. A home was cherished and not flipped, and “made in America” gave each person in the chain of commerce a sense of pride.
As quickly as I had passed the idyllic scene the Edsel was long gone in my mirror much like it’s era in our history. The road has straightened under my wheels and I am looking ahead, eagerly looking for the next cool sight to appear on the horizon. The wind knows how I feel. The sun knows how I feel. The road knows how I feel. The grass knows how I feel. It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life for me, and I'm feeling good
How can that scene, that slice of time, take one’s heart back to an era that predates one’s birth? A flash of a vision that ignites a longing for what was; a simpler time. Life was never less complicated, but it was less hurried. In an age before designer labels on t-shirts, accountability was faithfully focused on family and not mandated by government. A home was cherished and not flipped, and “made in America” gave each person in the chain of commerce a sense of pride.
As quickly as I had passed the idyllic scene the Edsel was long gone in my mirror much like it’s era in our history. The road has straightened under my wheels and I am looking ahead, eagerly looking for the next cool sight to appear on the horizon. The wind knows how I feel. The sun knows how I feel. The road knows how I feel. The grass knows how I feel. It's a new dawn. It's a new day. It's a new life for me, and I'm feeling good
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)