Saturday, March 22, 2014

Zeitgeist Unbridled/Nashville Bound













December 23, 2015



Zeitgeist Unbridled


Nashville Bound

 


from the back of beyond he came,

inexplicable faith fusing with oblivious ignorance,  
innocent eyes belying a voracious mind --
he faced the gauntlet
charisma held in reserve,
ambiguity & eloquence in abeyance,
embellishments too were set aside --
until such time Source gave leave

 a singular fate, beyond comprehension,
his boots presaged wanderlust,
maneuvered in and out of heartbreak --
to another side, love did stray
searchlights crisscrossed igniting discovery,
skeins of insight, conception,
zeal & ardor fostered epic creation --
 freedom's chimes proclaimed mythical glory
Concordia's striking tresses & heartfelt bounty
charmed & granted generosity,
throughout, competition ran riot --
 distinction & renown were within reach
overcome, amid vying interests & demands,
 too much too soon, for just like a socialite,
 desired by kings, another slipped into his room --
destined to deliver a troika of sons
time stampeded, headlong & hell bent,
visionaries converged, events collided,
 transformed, good & evil aligned --
his time had come
lyrics expounded philosophy & ethics,
propelled by ambition, recognition beckoned
altruism required no self-sacrifice...music sufficed --
a rally for peace kindled universal consciousness
  
audacity amidst nefarious company,
without connection, the road welcomed his path
incandescent with plangent desolation --
he set cats among  pigeons
amped, flagrant with abandon & rebellion
exuberance & passion channeled his views,
imagination inhabited songs unique unto himself --
anthems redeemed the conscience of a generation
in a league of his own, extended & beleaguered,
treading the tail of the tiger, toying with ruination
captivating, unexplored hypnotic provinces evolved --
a commanding double masterpiece reigned supreme
accolades & eminence persuasively inflamed
in an ever intensifying array of distilled essence
mandates of art provoked flirtation with the abyss --
fated his epitaph...never to be, the good die young
mountains, source of power & mystery,
signified sanctuary from a defiant, perilous past,
until claiming his next of kin --
death insisted on intimacy
austere,  resigned, sorrowful
enveloped in domestic patterns, embracing lore,
his spirit resurrected events of centuries past --
mirroring undisturbed rhythms of all there is
summoned, captivated by any day now, another waited,
seeking, unaware release was in the moment, 
offering idealism & solace, startled by romanticism --
a beautifully crafted Skyline, seductive & inviting... proved irresistible.



Queen of Swords
                                                                     ***






Posted Winter 2015






3/13/91
Unnamed




the windswept walls of Jericho stand fast


the dead of night be studded star of heaven's plane


matchless and enchained reaps bondage and covenants


in desperate conscience, a renegade remains



the clergy toll in vain for vespers
to the rescue, learned barrister, physician's skill
philosopher's stone, cryptic and obscure
but hawk eyed and contrite, Nemesis grieves still
the sullen wary vicar waits for fate
swallow tailed butterflies in sunbeams' flight
in a tea rose garden, the swan maiden
protector of consecrated memories of light
in royal rhyme, white, the crested cranes
aloft in splendor converge like silken sails aflame
orphic songs entrance the throng
Osiris, on his lips, the essence of her purloined name
to reach Andvari with Loki's pilfered magic ring
the caretakers risk injury and plight
apostles' ashes enshrined in shrouded tomes
betoken journey's end, for king and queen, at last in sight.







March 2007




Reprieve




Responding in bright & joyous energy across great distance, my fleeting unseen smile greets the night bird as he asserts his stalwart, exultant song. 

As spring becomes apparent, a burgeoning radiance cascades through an open portal; my morning prayers are sanctioned & slowly the ascension of light transfixes the morning mist.  


Attuned to nature's ceaseless, vibrant, celebratory renewal, slender reeds vibrate in the breeze & bees circle patches of sweetness in the dreamy languid noon day sun.


Blossoms obscure rusted train tracks & enhance a once fallow meadow.  An ancient gnarled oak, encroached by vines & imperceptibly reclaimed by the earth, serves yet to foster creatures' habitats. 

Against all odds, a once too many times transplanted Japanese magnolia brings forth delicate pedals & a tiny mud colored finch asserts his right and valiantly competes with vivid cardinals and bold blue jays.



Late after noon sun drifts through my plantation shutters -- a warm & mellow welcome.

My disconsolate spirit regenerates at the precipice of fresh beginnings. If only for a season, laid aside are past resentments and oblique sorrowful excursions.  Enthrallment is assuaged, aspiration rewarded & in my heart a gentle refreshed tenderness is realized.




Date Unknown



A Tale Untold




Seldom is form as important as function.  We took the starlight and returned it to the heavens.  We climbed upon the golden calf and rode it into the ground.  If joy was in the mix, it took a sabbatical.  For only fever and lightening and risk drove the chariot that worked this magic, to make us think a tender touch was just somewhere down the road.  We set aside self made obstacles and championed the heart of the matter, as if in soul alone we dwelled and in spirit entwined we are bound to perish.  And now the crushing weight of yearning abides safely in familiarity's domain.  And passion , it lives on, secure in that what was once, is now bequeathed to the world in songs to reach hearts untouched -- to celebrate a tale untold.


Date Unknown







unfinished
waiting for the deliverance hour,
counting all the beans in the pot,
slicing the pie so it gets spread
but the only sound i hear
 is my great grandmother's clock
counting in the evening hours
saying grace for all we have wrought.
question not the heat in my hands --
& the lapse from common sense...
it was only the Berbers assaulting the desert
breaking all the vases along the way.
what for my ashes then?
bibelots and small pleasures,
silken shawls enchanted by a slender neck
bring orchards unbridled by ripeness into the gloom.


                                                                                         Date Unknown

Unlimited Resources




Had I unlimited resources and a patent for cradling fulfillment
Had I a cradle for every homeless babe
Would I temper the steel blade?
Could I receive the host?
Soldiers permeate history's advance
Souls in unison abound
Clinging, merging
swept into the fulcrum of creation
Sound cloaks the psyche
Trumpeting about soaring and being left behind.



5/18/90




Royal Flush




sunlit strokes of dawn upon awaking days


a Queen's heart returned to ill-starred ways


the songbird's zeal in fervor and lament is spent


as marigolds turn to jimson weed

so high and mighty the Jack upon his deadly steed
vanquished, a bondwoman, in an ivory tower rare
forever his tune to dance and await his pleasure there
while he with famed presence and outrageous deeds
amid salvation and redemption did ride
his eye on Calvary for deliverance without fail
a blood stained hand upon the cat-o'-nine-tails
but the hour glass it did run its course
the King of Hearts unto the scene, steadfast his horse
a Rose of Sharon on his armor blazing
the haunted years lingered, the glittering prizes won
his hard earned, priceless cargo -- sagacity
steel hearted and true, triumphant over idolatry
the King, he did come to even a long-forgotten score
demolishing the fires raging, slaying rumors to the core
his goal to capture equity, fidelity his spur
he took up the gauntlet for his lost Queen
his reins a peaceful harmony to guide
devotion in his heart and liberation for his bride.




12/10/15
Well, alright then Sugar.  Thanks for the call. The world is a darker place without you.

Diary Entry #7



New Year's Day 1995

Solitude preservers in solid tones. Ever breaking the circle of events and pleasures and harpooning restless anger and base sorrows of years plundered long ago.
            If it were a the soft skein of some comfort, if a plateau of verdant slumbering fertile soil...


            ...instead realities fervently sought - a mind, without the body's housing unwilling to roust about for energy.




The wares with talented hands wrought gather dust unwanted by mercantile acquisition driven individuals.  "Rites of Passage" unwarranted, unchallenged by kindred and those who may potentially commiserate.






            The treadmill of self imposed isolation and those close with their yawning chasm of desire and these negligible albeit appropriate life forces that are tethered at the brink and long, dull days to drink deep from this well of austerity and seemingly senseless habits and routine.

"Long and Wasted Years" Bob Dylan
            (This followed by "Requiem for a Sonata" not for public eyes -- about the imposed silence by a promise, but unbeknownst to me it was the beginning of the end.)
            --only this continuity so long pursued, these settling bones and ungovernable mind subdued by age and circumstance and twice blessed at that!
            Forgone conclusions tremble not, unkempt ideologies and Sunday misadventures stored upon a shelf, some Arthurian legend like bequests, once known to be my life, gather time and are seasoned, thus empowered by admiration, buried by hope, diminished by old age, consecrated by the unendurable pain of it, chastised by reason subjugated by emotion and masterminded by the supreme storyteller into memory.
                                                                        ***
            clouded cauldrons & be ringed emotion
            burnt-out offerings on a steel platter
            calls to duty that betoken discontent,
            coursed through innumerable byways,
            arrested habits that deride bravado--
            severed relationships preserved
            in tarnished sepulchers of brass.
(..."Oh Sweet Jesus" were the last words written in this journal. Subsequent events and "Love & Theft" heralded the end of  'homestead' et al.)






12/8/15

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2PVDYN-dWA  

"Cry A While" - Bob Dylan

"Don't think of me and fantasize of what we never had/Be grateful for what we've shared together and be glad" from "We Better Talk This Over"

 Over the years I kept diaries without much effort at literary expression... most which I meticulously destroyed (no business but my own), however, in the recent upheaval some portions have survived. (Re: Born in Time, Shooting Star, Where Teardrops Fall  etc. )Mostly from early and late 90s.



1/17/90



Diary Entry #1
            In the fraying slices of sunlight shapes and silhouettes enchant the garden wall.  Immersed in graceful silence long shadows that cast the pine trees' rangy shape. Fantastical they way earth moves dressing the retreating light with multilayered, surrendering emotions.

            There beyond touch beckons my other world, folding the heart in bitter sweet request.



            Nurse the waywardness and overblown earnestness, grieve for the spaces left wanting, for the odd ventures and their cast of characters.




            The deep breath tuned to the pitch heard only the spirit, lost in its entirety to the world.  Spin the yarn to the hungry reaches of imagination, clamoring for subsistence, grappling with resistance in the realm of possibilities.







2/6/90
           
Diary Entry #2
            Back over old ground. Old passion bedecked with ancient conflicts.  In trust and loving ways stumbling at the portals of their welcome, but when real need speaks, the token of their words slips from the hand and heart.  Age gnaws at beauty, ideals become ordeals and the singer sings of constancy and offerings.  Demons coerce my brittle body and unforgiving mind, summoning chaos and dissolving in fear and frenzy.  Faith collapses and self destruction is nigh, belittling hope, sanctity and innocence.
            Practical concerns devour time, flooding the mind with pressure and trivialities.  Some inept frail being clawing at the hand of fate -- how much more to endure in the battlefield of this attachement?
            Wish I knew the grace and artistry to fold gently these wings to glide toward my end with some dignity  intact. This pain never to master, never to put aside the horror of a giving heart used so negligently by those I seek to please. And then there was "Where Teardrops Fall...."
                                                           
                                                                                                                        9/19/90
            ...And sometimes when the moment is upon me, I burst with my life's unkempt passions -- to even the tide somewhat between the novel and the expected, if
only to harness the opportunity to entreat the three graces and linger there where statement is mute awash with permanence -- to put to good use self perpetuating care of the body's dutiful response, the temple of the soul.
            Where do lovers meet these days to do their loving? A demon harks the fickle please of awesome sin and shortcomings to punish.  Alone.  Are the gods gratified?
            7/28/90
Diary Entry #4

 Zeitgeist of Highway 61

     You'll recognize his gaunt face

          as he hitches a ride

               on the Deus Ex Machina ...and you'll wonder

                    why he's not ever there at high tide.
                         He rides with the winds.

                              His message is without fear.
                                   "Come with me, I'll see you clear."
Only remember dear children -- remember good. 

     His ride will take you to the gates of heaven

          and the caverns of hell and leave no tracks.
                So hold on, hold on dear children,

                       you will never want to come back.
                                                                                                                                    8/16/90
Diary Entry #5
            Wondering where he is.

            Post mortems for the three hopes of man:
            1) To be recalled in memory
            2)  For someone who cares to be present when one departs
            3)  To be born again in perpetuity
5/24/91
Diary Entry #6
            Catastrophe avoids me and the benign genteel threads of the fates woven catacombs lull me into false complacency.  Mingling with the guided tour of their direction is a nonchalant, preoccupied wayfarer championing causes of non-neglect; gliding, rocking with the ship to my destined route.
            Useless hope and wishful thinking in shambles taunt with their respective wares, consuming fires of youth, edifying the cause and effects of my blighted deeds and wrongdoings and personal vendettas surmounting all activities subjugated to less than noble perameters.  A winter of the heart, a mind bereft of cohesive thought, making small talk with feathered, twittering, cherished collectibles of mind and eye -- so called the winsome birds that gather seed in a yard overgrown and unruly.
            Passions are stacked like bolts of fabric neatly in many toned hues to be unwound and gazed upon with dispassionate speculation.
            What are these stray mechanisms of thought then but insights -- or perhaps unsightly views of why the book of fate be closed so as not to disturb those in charge.
            So oddly anaesthetized these rebellious feelings one would put toward a new companion, as if the best and worst was long ago used up.
            In a literary sense it matters little if the ear is cushioned by resolve and gratitude.  Only the wide open maw of astonishment would give vent to rigor and the chrysalis of being once again laid wide open for impression and the reasoning powers once consolidated.  Perhaps, yes perhaps, the useless ash of wood once whole and fine lingers to shroud these sensibilities, to gather and shore up inside this impervious indifference that passes now for a mind at peace.
            The notes and chords and tones, the melodies and well wrought words draw yet the tears from my capitulated but stain resistant shell, while an insider views the event with neither pity nor scorn, merely saying thus for this harvest is your conquest and your pain.  The angels have insulated your fractured being, they've isolated the culprit -- not so that you may lay blame but so as to grind your teeth and carry on and resort back to this strange and indistinct wisdom that one gathers from repetitive and futile experiences.
            Night brings awesome proportions and panic.  The lingering tragedy of attentions and heartfelt adoration preserved under glass, the vinyl archives, a fitting tribute for madness and solitude. These gods who turn blind eyes to suffering, what would they take from this troubled dream?
            Sweeping gestures indistinct and fragile awaking the mentor who has chosen not to play.  Connected in infinite patters of molecular design-- an armature, christened body and soul.  Speak to the silence reverberating in the great corridors of our undoing...silence to cleanse the ways of our forefathers, silence that encloses the shrill cries of the hawk.  Missions in shambles, proverbial consultations visited by stark realities and clouded sermons in tropical splendor while lovers whisper in the antechamber.
            Yet, angels fold their slender wings in prayer for paltry fires and novices stumble amidst funeral pyres.
                                                                                                                        8/10/91
            According to the dreams there are answers to be had but only if one speaks the language.

Pertaining to "who" and "when" and "what", "how' and where....

"Someone showed me a picture and I just laughed." Bob Dylan

Unnamed"  1990s by "Queen of Swords,"
________________________________________________________













"Just don't know what to do


I'd give anything to


Be with you."




...from "Love Sick,"
"If I ever saw you comin' I don't know what I might do
I'd like to think I could control myself
But it isn't true
That's how it is
When things disintegrate"
From "I Can't Wait"

"I can finish this alone honey."
From "Driftin' Too Far From Shore"

"Today Is a Sad and Lonely Day"
"Lonesome Day Blues"

___________________________________________________

"A Man of Constant Sorrow"


"If I'd knowed how bad you'd treat me
Honey, I never would have come"

Looks pretty much like the end of the trail of me, I'd love to be proved wrong.



11/28/15


On a brighter note - decoupage by AlexRa


Dylan songs on my mind this day?
"Where Are You Tonight?"
"'Til I Fell in Love with You"
_____________________________________________

"I'm doomed to love you
I've been rollin' through stormy weather
I'm thinkin' of you
And all the places we could roam together.
from "Can't Wait" by B. Dylan

And something traditional for this fabulous day?

(Thanksgiving Day  (72)-- and a lovely day it was.)

11/25/15






 "Why you don't never play with me any more?"
...from "Floater" by Bob Dylan

-- but songs ever live on and today on my mind:

"Shooting Star" from "Oh Mercy"
https://vimeo.com/87715032






"And I've got a date with the fairy queen" Bob Dylan, from "Soon After Midnight"



A simple Thanksgiving Blessing I created for family & friends and sent you once previously, I believe;



Thanksgiving Blessing
This day in particular we remember to count our blessings and be grateful for our family, friends, good health and fortune.  We are thankful we are able to all gather here together, as we remember the good things we've shared in the past -- good times, good food and most of all -- good company


This day we send blessings to those who by fortune have less -- those who find themselves cold, hungry, ill, homeless and/or alone.  We hope that their strength, luck and opportunities improve and that they too will soon find kindness and companionship, for as the seasons turn, so too do the fortunes of humankind.

We give thanks to Mother Earth for providing for us
the light, warmth, shelter and nourishment required for life.  We're grateful for the bounty of nature and
all its creatures. We are grateful for our animal companions and all we have -- for the blessings of
love, safety, beauty and comfort.
Queen of Swords


https://picasaweb.google.com/115792199148244711924/November23201505#6220330073918369170
...worth a thousand words? X-Mas 2014 (at 71)

So, d.m. you made it once again!  This IS a good thing.  (What only 808 cities and 2,503 shows?  No slacker thee.)

"Don't show me no picture show or give me no book to read
It don't satisfy the hurt inside nor the habit that it feeds" B.Dylan


Do I really have a choice, honey?

Shot of Love - Bob Dylan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlfbUAabhmc


"Reality has always had too many heads
Some things last longer than you think they will
Some kind of things you can never kill"

from Bob Dylan's "Cold Irons Bound"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HAjuE9kZdE
Fabulous!


From Workingman's Blues

"Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behind
Bring me my boots and shoes
You can hang back or fight your best on the front line
Sing a little bit of these workingman's blues"

From Workingman's Blues #2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ4T3GyuG28


On my mind: "Life is Hard," and "Everything is Broken" and "Not Dark Yet". "Death Is Not the End."  You might just turn the tide & speak next time you ring them bells.  The worst thing that could happen already has.



Death is Not the End





8/9/2015
"I'll Remember You" (& others) Bob Dylan

7/30/15
"Empire Burlesque" (a minimally appreciated album) came out the year before, which speaks to what was happening 'behind the scenes" with such excellent songs such as:  Tight Connection to My Heart, When the Night Comes Falling from the Night; Never Gonna Be the Same Again; Seeing the Real You At Last; I'll Remember You; Emotionally Yours.



When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky - B. Dylan




7/15/15


From "Long And Wasted Years" Bob Dylan

"It's been such a long, long time
Since we loved each other and our hearts were true
One time, for one brief day, I was the man for you

Last night I heard you talking in your sleep
Saying things you shouldn't say
Oh baby, you just might have to go to jail someday

Is there a place we can go?
Is there anybody we can see?
Maybe, it's the same for you as it is for me

I ain't seen my family in twenty years
That ain't easy to understand
They may be dead by now
I lost track of them after they lost their land

Shake it up baby twist and shout
You know what it's all about
What are you doing out there in the sun anyway?
Don't you know the sun can burn your brains right out?

My enemy crashed into the dust
Stopped dead in his tracks and he lost his lust
He was run down hard and he broke apart
He died in shame he had an iron heart

I wear dark glasses to cover my eyes
There are secrets in them I can't disguise
Come back baby if I ever hurt your feelings I apologize

Two trains running side by side
Forty miles wide, down the eastern line
You don't have to go
I just came to you because your a friend of mine

I think that when my back was turned
The whole world behind me burned
It's been awhile since we walked down that long, long aisle

We cried on that cold and frosty morn
We cried because our souls were torn
So much for tears, so much for these long and wasted years
Bob Dylan

7/14/15

From "Shelter From The Storm"


I was in another lifetime one of toil and blood
When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness a creature void of form
"Come in" she said
"I'll give you shelter from the storm".

And if I pass this way again you can rest assured
I'll always do my best for her on that I give my word
In a world of steel-eyed death and men who are fighting to be warm
"Come in" she said
"I'll give you shelter from the storm".

Not a word was spoke between us there was little risk involved
Everything up to that point had been left unresolved
Try imagining a place where it's always safe and warm
"Come in" she said
"I'll give you shelter from the storm".

I was burned out from exhaustion buried in the hail
Poisoned in the bushes and blown out on the trail
Hunted like a crocodile ravaged in the corn
"Come in" she said
"I'll give you shelter from the storm".

Suddenly I turned around and she was standing there
With silver bracelets on her wrists and flowers in her hair
She walked up to me so gracefully and took my crown of thorns
"Come in" she said
"I'll give you shelter from the storm".

Now there's a wall between us something there's been lost
I took too much for granted got my signals crossed
Just to think that it all began on a long-forgotten morn
"Come in" she said
"I'll give you shelter from the storm".

Well the deputy walks on hard nails and the preacher rides a mount
But nothing really matters much it's doom alone that counts
And the one-eyed undertaker he blows a futile horn
"Come in" she said
"I'll give you shelter from the storm".
I've heard newborn babies wailing like a mourning dove
And old men with broken teeth stranded without love
Do I understand your question man is it hopeless and forlorn
"Come in" she said
"I'll give you shelter from the storm".

In a little hilltop village they gambled for my clothes
I bargained for salvation and they gave me a lethal dose
I offered up my innocence and got repaid with scorn
"Come in" she said
"I'll give you shelter from the storm".

Well I'm living in a foreign country but I'm bound to cross the line
Beauty walks a razor's edge someday I'll make it mine
If I could only turn back the clock to when God and her were born
"Come in" she said
"I'll give you shelter from the storm".







7/13/15
Lyrics on my mind this day:
"Sometimes the silence can be like thunder
Seen a shooting star tonight
And I thought of me
If I was still the same
If I ever became what you wanted me to be
Did I miss the mark or over-step the line
That only you could see?
Seen a shooting star tonight
And I thought of me
If I hurt your feelings, I apologize"
"Well, if I go down dyin' you know she bound to put a blanket on my bed."
B.Dylan
The Man in Me - Bob Dylan





The man in me will do nearly any task,
And as for compensation, there's little he would ask.
Take a woman like you
To get through to the man in me.

Storm clouds are raging all around my door,
I think to myself I might not take it any more.
Take a woman like your kind
To find the man in me.

But, oh, what a wonderful feeling
Just to know that you are near,
Sets my a heart a-reeling
From my toes up to my ears.

The man in me will hide sometimes to keep from bein' seen,
But that's just because he doesn't want to turn into some machine.
Took a woman like you
To get through to the man in me.

Up to Me - Bob Dylan



Emotionally Yours, Bob Dylan

Love Sick - Bob Dylan




 "I don't have any regrets, they can talk about me plenty when I'm gone"




"You hung the blade you'll pay the price"

"Oh no, I don’t need any reminder
To know how much I really care
But it’s just making me blinder and blinder
Because I’m up on a hill and still you’re not there
Hazel, you called and I came
Now don’t make me play this waiting game
You’ve got something I want plenty of
Ooh, a little touch of your love" 

B. Dylan






"I'm in love with a woman who don't even appeal to me

Unbelievable: Bob Dylan


Slow Train Coming: "

One More Cup of Coffee: Dylan

Shooting Star: Dylan



blog author: 72

Marcel Proust at Moriss Column....Paris.  Remind you of anyone?



May 18, 2015


"Shelter from the Storm" by Bob Dylan from "Blood on the Tracks"



May 7, 2015


"Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again" by Bob Dylan

"Things Have Changed" by Bob Dylan



"I hurt easy, I just don’t show it





You can hurt someone and not even know it"  B.Dylan

______________________________________________________




11/1/2014


She says, “You can’t repeat the past.” I say, “You can’t? What do you mean,
you can’t? Of course you can.”



"This Dream of You" Bob Dylan

“Had a dream about you, baby. Late last night you come a-rollin’ across my mind”



Lyrics currently on my mind:
____
“Am I getting it wrong/Is the whole thing going backwards”

Evidently.  It was different once. of Tangled Up in Blue - http://vimeo.com/76422105 ) 

I could be learning, you could be yearning to see behind closed doors
***
"Nothing was delivered And I tell this truth to you Not out of spite or anger But simply because it’s true."
***
Got nothin’ for you, I had nothin’ before
Don’t even have anything for myself anymore
***
 “The man in me will hide sometimes to keep from being seen/But that’s just because he doesn’t want to turn into some machine/Takes a woman like you/To get through to the man in me.
***
“I ain’t gotta get lost in this current/I don’t like playing cat and mouse”
***
"
"Reality has always had too many heads"

***
"Take care of all your memories
Said my friend,  Mick
For you cannot relive them
And remember when you're out there
Trying to heal the sick
You must always first forgive them"

***
"Walkin’ through the leaves, falling from the trees
Feelin’ like a stranger nobody sees
So many things that we never will undo
I know you’re sorry, I’m sorry too

Well, the emptiness is endless, cold as the clay
You can always come back, but you can’t come back all the way

Well, I’m tired of talking
I’m tired of trying to explain
My attempts to please you
Were all in vain
***
Don’t have the inclination to look back on any mistake
***
There are no mistakes in life some people say
It is true sometimes you can see it that way.
But people don’t live or die, people just float.
***
I’d forgotten about you
Then you turned up again
I always knew
That we were meant to be more than friends
I got the heart and you got the blood
We cut through iron and we cut through mud
Then came the warning that was before the flood
That set everybody free
Fools they made a mock of sin
Our loyalty they tried to win
But you were closer to me than my next of kin
When they didn’t want to know or see


B.Dylan
***

Behind Here Lies Nothing by Bob Dylan


Of Dismay and Dereliction

Second to none your comprehension was inordinately  gratifying.

First and foremost your way with words is exemplary and the melodies you've composed and performed embodied, without reservation, all that is glorious and superior.

The sum total of your work is considered by most perfection and the epitome of accomplishment.

Thus a notable life -- an inspiration and a meaningful heritage.

In the wake of your memorable and sustaining triumphs was the enduring power to create interest and beauty, which resulted in more than one hopeful, loving and loyal individual  to become entwined in your galvanizing orbit -- succumbing, flailing, struggling -- failing to keep pace with the monumental magnitude of the presence you've imprinted on our times.

Enriched?  Yes!  Inspired?  No question.

Without doubt, you've also have loved and been loved in return, as have I.

But within the complexities of the highways and byways of your mind, your guarded heart struggles with trust, compassion and courage.  Never to dominate suspicion, never again to attempt to open the gate that might destroy your carefully crafted and nurtured dreams.  Rather loss, rather death than to lay bare the flawed underbelly of what heaven has not wrought.
You have acknowledged others, admired, encouraged and rewarded  -- outside the norm,( outside the parameters of what I, for one, might have had a right to expect perhaps?) -- and am, after all these years, still outside your door.

Artistic avenues and explorations are often solitary,  but few are totally self-sustaining and so like upon like would not have yielded promise.  It was the emotional, tender, romantic, adventurous, trusting, demonstrative, tenacious aspect of a real love interest that provided the requisite foil, dream, drama, essential stimuli, affinity and alliance.

If you too possess the aforementioned qualities and the attendant insight and sensitivity,  then insanity unites and unhappiness and dissatisfaction has  facilitated  the accepted positive value of creativity.

 Queen of Swords
_________________________________________________




Sept 8, 2014 - Full Moon

"Full Moon and Empty Arms" (Frank Sinatra)
cover by Bob Dylan





***

Doldrums Blues

evening draws the hearth fires
without touch -- i am wounded
harassing concerns, ever present, nag --
eventide temps to claim me

the world's torments consume,
the reckoning inside considers
slides & phases of being,
host to insightful observations

counting failures, one by one
nettled by defeat, consolation strives
yet much was duly done &
much was adventurously lived

sawing through arduous life
in a deeply spent carriage,
consigned, resolved to succumb
to the exit visa of eternal sleep

reaching for the Recycler,
every detail determined --
but days marked "vacation"
drifted by -- almost unaware

 instinct for survival kicked,
discipline & stoicism, my escorts
enduring ghastly bodily weather
to respect this fine machine

out in the blue ocean doldrums,
one must gird one's loins --
to interact once more with life,
to acknowledge the living God

had i been your chattel, lover
would i have then achieved
stronger reins than Gloriana*?
would we have been challenged?

your life peopled with blood --
related, players & retainers
and an avid world at your feet
& your sister at the crossroads

 the one who keeps secrets
believed assurances & had your back
the one you could not take, or have  --
but never could leave...such is kin

enigmatic & unassailable
you shadowed my days,
your precious, extravagant songs
claimed my devoted heart

raw-eyed, I worshiped your sweetness
now memory is hard to abide
in mind alone I lived, dreaming --
desolate & recharged

with a genius is the rafters
what of your chevaux-de-frise,
this intruder safe design,
wrought between us?

the future takes care of itself,
& sanctified are these moments of peace



by Queen of Swords


*Note: "Gloriana" refers in this instance to Queen Elizabeth I, not the singer.











https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M7M4UoqBpA

8/19/14
_______________________________________________
"It was gravity which pulled us down and destiny which broke us apart
You tamed the lion in my cage but it just wasn’t enough to change my heart

Now everything’s a little upside down, as a matter of fact the wheels have stopped

What’s good is bad, what’s bad is good, you’ll find out when you reach the top

You’re on the bottom" 
Idiot Wind by Bob Dylan 



_______________________________________________________________________



7/29/14
Shortly after midnight...
Consolation.

...from "Love Sick" Bob Dylan

"I'm sick of love; I wish I’d never met you
I’m sick of love; I’m trying to forget you
Just don’t know what to do
I’d give anything to be with you"




___________________________________________________________
7/27/14
Lonesome Day Blues - Bob Dylan


"We live and we die, we not not why/But I'll be with you when the deal goes down"
Bob Dylan


___________________________________________________________

The stronghold of your love....


Shooting Star by Bob Dylan
_______________________________________________
7/15/14


"SENOR" Bob Dylan 



"Shelter from the Storm" by Bob Dylan 

__________________________________________________________________________
7/9/14
Workingman's Blues by Bob Dylan


7/7/14

Set List Poland 5/5/2014. 

Rainy Day Women #12 & 35
Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues
To Ramona 
The Levee’s Gonna Break
Shelter From The Storm
Cry A While 
Girl from the North Country
Summer Days
Desolation Row 
Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
Lonesome Day Blues 
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
Thunder On The Mountain
Ballad Of A Thin Man 

All Along The Watchtower
Blowin’ In The Wind

________________________________________________

7/1/14


in the service of devotion

that which brings today through tomorrow
unveils here and now
 the inadequacy of speech

understanding nothing but contrast
between this and then
remembrance & defeat coalesce

consternation dislodges apathy
 & mindful your shadow still casts
its direction to my heart

nothing is discarded by touch
but savage aching need
naught achieved but fulfillment

to define who we are
and what we want
is to discern the validity of our being

nothing serves as eloquently as desire --
to accept each other unreservedly

& join in the connection of devotion

                               Queen of Swords
____________________________________________________________

5/24/14
"Man of Constant Sorrow"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCipKmyngLY


5/23/14


voices of yesteryear



battalions of words compete for recognition

myriad papers flutter like minions of the mind

on the mantelpiece cotillion invitations accumulate

a congregation of full moons verifies of our experience 

my spirit prepares for another transformation

in the stillness, voices of yesteryear are our testament



Queen of Swords


***



in passing


on the path, in the park
in Shakespeare's alley
secluded and discreet
heaven promised us to meet
in passing, chance was lost


moonbeam-fed, a night owl rests
gratitude insists, joy persists
tattered & mellowed in our hulls
plans awry, hope relinquished,
in passing, our spirits mingled


immeasurably vast all life
for which humanity is irrelevant
the Creator recognized in ruins
our vain strategy for being
in passing deliverance fled


the nest builders ever resolute
scavengers forever hopeful
harvesters replete with success--
shame me with wise probity
in passing we court blessings


polished grace, master of your craft
your assertions sweet and bold
cause of bliss, witness to travesty
strange brew for strangers at the gate
in passing, we broke the golden rule


gill-flirts & inane manikins
viper-like they stole my man
we traced each others footsteps
stories do tell & teardrops did fall
we dared, no one knew or cared
in passing, non were spared.




Queen of Swords



"Assignation with a Great Man" -- "Three Days in May" moved to bottom of main blog

FOR WHATEVER IT'S WORTH
http://tenanthasmoved.blogspot.com/

There are 16 blogs of writings by the Queen of Swords, pertaining to Bob Dylan, including http://toopersonalforpublicconsumption.blogspot.com/
____________________________________________

5/17/14







"I'll Remember You"  by Bob Dylan


I’ll remember you
When I’ve forgotten all the rest
You to me were true
You to me were the best
When there is no more
You cut to the core
Quicker than anyone I knew
When I’m all alone
In the great unknown
I’ll remember you
I’ll remember you
At the end of the trail
I had so much left to do
I had so little time to fail
There’s some people that
You don’t forget
Even though you’ve only seen ’m one time or two
When the roses fade
And I’m in the shade
I’ll remember you
Didn’t I, didn’t I try to love you?
Didn’t I, didn’t I try to care?
Didn’t I sleep, didn’t I weep beside you
With the rain blowing in your hair?
I’ll remember you
When the wind blows through the piney wood
It was you who came right through
It was you who understood
Though I’d never say
That I done it the way
That you’d have liked me to
In the end
My dear sweet friend
I’ll remember you





5/15/14



Forgetful Heart
Simple Twist of Fate
Grooms Still Standing at the Altar
True Love Tends to Forget
Idiot Wind
Sugar Baby
Someday Baby
Seeing the Real You at Last
What Was It You Wanted?
Where Teardrops fall
One More Cup of Coffee Before I Go
Rank Strangers
Is Your Love in Vain?
Most of the Time
Never Gonna Be the Same Again
Too Much of Nothing
Man in a Long Black Coat
Born in Time
If You Gotta Go, Go Now
Mississippi
I Believe in You/Death is Not the End
Knockin' on Heaven's Door
Honest with Me

”Don’t worry, baby, I don’t mind leaving
I’d just like it to be my idea"
***

"It ain’t that I’m questionin’ you
To take part in any quiz
It’s just that I ain’t got no watch
An’ you keep askin’ me what time it is"

"Don’t think of me and fantasize on what we never had
Be grateful for what we’ve shared together and be glad'

***
 5/14/14 8:16  p.m.  
"High Water"

5/12/14  8:21 p.m.  
"Nothing was Delivered"

5/12/14
"Waiting for You" 


This Wheel's on Fire

All Along the Watchtower

Tangled Up In Blue

Coming from the Heart

Shelter from the Storm

To Make You Feel My Love

***



May  12. 14. 16




***
5/11/14
Can't Wait

Lay Lady Lay

Buckets of Rain

Emotionally Yours

Oh Sister

One More Night

One More Night

Peggy Day

Love Sick

Tight Connection to My Heart

Had a Dream about You Baby


Hazel


by Bob Dylan

***
5/10/14

Bob Dylan songs:


I'd Have you Anytime

Meet Me in the Morning

Night After Night

We Better Talk this Over

Summer Days

Up to Me

All Over You

Baby I'm in the Mood

Beyond the Horizon

In the Summertime

Tonight I'll be Staying Here with You


To Be Alone With You

***
5/9/14
Bob Dylan songs:

You Angel You

Sweetheart Like You

We Better Talk this Over

Nobody 'cept You

Soon After Midnight

Shot of Love

New Morning

The Man in Me

Country Pie

It Hurts Me Too

I forgot More than You'll Ever Know

When Did You Leave Heaven

***


5/8/14
Bob Dylan songs on my mind this day (no particular order):




New Morning 

Long Distance Operator

Let's Keep It Between Us

Tell Me That It Isn't True

Let's Stick Together


Got My Mind Made Up



5/7/14


Every Grain of Sand - Bob Dylan


http://vimeo.com/61822795



"Bye and Bye"  
  by Bob Dylan
Bye and bye, I’m breathin’ a lover’s sigh
I’m sittin’ on my watch so I can be on time
I’m singin’ love’s praises with sugar-coated rhyme
Bye and bye, on you I’m casting my eye
I’m paintin’ the town—swinging my partner around
I know who I can depend on, I know who to trust
I’m watchin’ the roads, I’m studying the dust
I’m paintin’ the town making my last go-round
Well, I’m scufflin’ and I’m shufflin’ and I’m walkin’ on briars
I’m not even acquainted with my own desires
I’m rollin’ slow—I’m doing all I know
I’m tellin’ myself I found true happiness
That I’ve still got a dream that hasn’t been repossessed
I’m rollin’ slow, goin’ where the wild roses grow
Well the future for me is already a thing of the past
You were my first love and you will be my last
Papa gone mad, mamma, she’s feeling sad
I’m gonna baptize you in fire so you can sin no more
I’m gonna establish my rule through civil war
Gonna make you see just how loyal and true a m
an can be

***
"Dignity" Bob Dylan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSy267PTSnY

"If Not for You" by Bob Dylan

__________________________________________________________________


4/24/14

Lyrics Bob Dylan 

"Forever Young" 
___________________________________
March 21, 2014 

Waiting for You

I never dreamed it could be
A someone made just for me.
When I'm letting her have her way,
I'm here to see what she has to say.
Aw, the poor girl always wins the day. 
I'm stayin' ahead of the game,
And she's a-doin' the same,
And the whiskey flyin' into my head.
The fiddler's arm has gone dead,
And talk is beginning to spread 

When did our love go bad? 
Whatever happened to the best friend that I had? 
It's been so long since I held you tight
Been so long since we said goodnight.
The taste of tears is bittersweet.
When you're near me, my heart forgets to beat. 
You're there every night 
Among the good and the true,
And I'll be around, waitin' for you.

Well, the king of them all 
Is starting to fall.
I lost my gal at the boatman's ball. 
The night has a thousand hearts and eyes. 
Hope may vanish, but it never dies.
I'll see you tomorrow when freedom rings.
I'm gonna stay on top of things.
It's the middle of summer, 
And the moon is blue.
And I'll be around, waitin' for you.
Another deal gone down,
Another man done gone.
You put up with it all, and you carry on.
Something holding you back, 
But you'll come through.
I'd bet the world and everything in it on you.
Happiness is but a state of mind.
Anytime you want, you can cross the state line. 
You don't need to be rich 
or well-to-do,
I'll be around, waitin' for you.


___________________________________________
Easter 20/14

"I'll Remember You" Bob Dylan
Workingman's Blues #2 by Bob Dylan
There's an evenin' haze settlin' over the town
Starlight by the edge of the creek
The buyin' power of the proletariat's gone down
Money's gettin' shallow and weak
The place I love best is a sweet memory
It's a new path that we trod
They say low wages are a reality
If we want to compete abroad
My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf
Come sit down on my knee
You are dearer to me than myself
As you yourself can see
I'm listenin' to the steel rails hum
Got both eyes tight shut
Just sitting here trying to keep the hunger from
Creeping it's way into my gut
Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behind
Bring me my boots and shoes
You can hang back or fight your best on the front line
Sing a little bit of these workingman's blues
Now, I'm sailin' on back, ready for the long haul
Tossed by the winds and the seas
I'll drag ‘em all down to hell and I'll stand ‘em at the wall
I'll sell ‘em to their enemies
I'm tryin' to feed my soul with thought
Gonna sleep off the rest of the day
Sometimes no one wants what we got
Sometimes you can't give it away
Now the place is ringed with countless foes
Some of them may be deaf and dumb
No man, no woman knows
The hour that sorrow will come
In the dark I hear the night birds call
I can hear a lover's breath
I sleep in the kitchen with my feet in the hall
Sleep is like a temporary death
Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behind
Bring me my boots and shoes
You can hang back or fight your best on the front line
Sing a little bit of these workingman's blues
Well, they burned my barn, they stole my horse
I can't save a dime
I got to be careful, I don't want to be forced
Into a life of continual crime
I can see for myself that the sun is sinking
How I wish you were here to see
Tell me now, am I wrong in thinking
That you have forgotten me?
Now they worry and they hurry and they fuss and they fret
They waste your nights and days
Them I will forget
But you I'll remember always
Old memories of you to me have clung
You've wounded me with words
Gonna have to straighten out your tongue
It's all true, everything you have heard
Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behind
Bring me my boots and shoes
You can hang back or fight your best on the front line
Sing a little bit of these workingman's blues
In you, my friend, I find no blame
Wanna look in my eyes, please do
No one can ever claim
That I took up arms against you
All across the peaceful sacred fields
They will lay you low
They'll break your horns and slash you with steel
I say it so it must be so
Now I'm down on my luck and I'm black and blue
Gonna give you another chance
I'm all alone and I'm expecting you
To lead me off in a cheerful dance
Got a brand new suit and a brand new wife
I can live on rice and beans
Some people never worked a day in their life
Don't know what work even means
Meet me at the bottom, don't lag behind
Bring me my boots and shoes
You can hang back or fight your best on the front line
Sing a little bit of these workingman's blues
***



"Shenandoah" (no Bob Dylan music video available)

"Beyond Here Lies Nothing?





4/12/20
"Shenandoah" (no Bob Dylan music video available)

Ice Queen - Construction by AlexRa


"About the madness of becoming what one was never meant to be"
***
"I could make you happy, make your dreams come true"
***
I'm tellin' myself I've found true happiness
That I still got a dream that hasn't been repossessed
***
"Be grateful for what we've shared together and be glad"


"Hazel” Bob Dylan
"There's smoke on the water it's been there since June
Tree trunks uprooted beneath the high crescent moon
Feel the pulse and vibration and the rumbling force
Somebody is out there beating on a dead horse
She never said nothing there was nothing she wrote
She gone with the man in the long black coat."

"You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" Bob Dylan
http://vimeo.com/968977


Forgive me, baby, for what I didn't do
For not breakin' down no bedroom door to get at you
***
Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in the corn 

"I was dreaming I was sleeping in Rosie's bed"
***
"For the love of God, you ought to take pity on yourself."

 
"Shot of Love" Bob Dylan

"Everything up to that point had been left unresolved"
***
"One day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzin' around your eyes
/Blood on your saddle."
***
"I'm in love with a woman that don't even appeal to me"
***
"Sugar baby get on down the road, you ain't got no brains nohow"
***
 "I'm sick of love, I wish I'd never met you"



"I'm only a man/Doin' the best that I can."
***
"I hurt easy, I just don't show it."





"Ooh, baby, thank you for my tea!
Baby, thank you for my tea!
It’s so sweet of you to be so nice to me"
_______________________________________________________


Photo:
Decoupage of tea caddy and tray - AlexRa

On my mind:  Hard Rain's Gonna Fall by Bob Dylan