everybody reads raymond

Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick
and think of you
caught up in circles confusion -
is nothing new
Flashback - warm nights -
almost left behind
suitcases of memories,
time after -

As seen by:

Summer stretching on the grass...summer dresses pass
in the shade of willow tree creeps a crawling over me
over me and over you stuck together with God's glue
it's going to get stickier too...
it's been a long hot summer
let's get undercover
don't try too hard to think...don't think at all
I'm not the only one starin' at the sun

Becomes, as they see:

As she says, "The drum beat's out of time."
And as he says, "Referee won't blow the whistle."

In New York City, people walk, and walk.
With black shoes and black pants, people walk.

I've been to Paris and the people walk there too.
With strolling bags and casual cigarettes, people walk.

In London too, people walk.
With cradled cellphone and newspaper chips, people walk.
Probably in Tokyo as well, but I've never been.

On the 4th of July my Granddaddy passed away.  It was a sweet passing as it was quick and unexpected.  Plus it removed any chance of his continued slide into Alzheimer's.  It is a far better fate than to have all his memories and abilities stripped away over time.  He was after all; a man of passion, feeling and understanding.  He understood the pain in man.  And he understood love - most supremely, he understood love.  Yes, my Granddaddy was a preacher, but being a preacher was only a vocation.  He was a pure man first.  And that was the man I knew - the man I miss - the man that still teaches me from the grave.

At the funeral service, it was read:

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails.

I cried.  I understood.  “Love never fails”.  I laughed at/with my Granddaddy.  I smiled toward heaven and I cried again.  Then I cried a lot.  I got it.  Granddaddy had smacked me upside the head when I needed it the most.  He was like that too.  He was a man of timing - something that only the humorist in me understood.  Thank you Granddaddy.  I will never miss you as you are around me always, even when I have completely given up all hope that you'll show.  I do miss your laugh, though.  And your ice cream sodas.  Sneaky bugger.

While re-writing this, I listened to:  Everlasting Love from the album "B-Sides 1980-1990" by U2.

I've had a fairly mixed couple of weeks.  Life changes rapidly when you give it a chance.  It happens even wilder if you don't - only you find yourself not on the ride.  You get one spin in the great cosmos, peeps.  Use it.  Make it count.  It reminds me of my most loved poem by Herrick.  Carpe Diem!

TO THE VIRGINS, TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME
~ by Robert Herrick

GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
    Old time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
    To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
    The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
    And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
    When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
    Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
    And while ye may go marry:
For having lost but once your prime
    You may for ever tarry.

While writing this I played: American Idiot from the album "American Idiot" by Green Day, which doesn't fit the sentiment of the poem, but does fit my mood.