free-falling with Hope on a rope...

[mwzephyr]

Seems now when I talk to myself in the shadows,

the shadows are talking back...

“See the young soul burning bright, flash across the stage tonight; brilliant, effervescent, lyrical and wise in the moment.”

The spotlight shone upon your face and your peers marveled at your eloquence,

not aware you were scared to death as you narrated your life,

their lives, to the accompaniment of a steel guitar and some skinny, skinny girls in heels with tambourines and smiles and eyeliner.

You tickled our apprehensions about the future

and your defiant words made all our fears go away and in collective reverie we imagined a world where all hate

and pain drifted away into the deserts of history.

You gave us hope you gave us voice and you gave us wings as you leapt off of the moment,

into a future of hope and love and we could not help ourselves,

we
~ jumped with you and the short flight was like cocaine to our souls.

We were invincible and timeless and we were the universe in totality and were more importantly of one mind.

Amidst the smoke and shadows and tremolo and bass notes we were kings and queens

and we forgot the world as it was

and saw it as only our generation could see it.

We shed the baggage of the past and danced to our vision of the future, like kites we soared.

When the concert was over, deaf and slightly high, we drove, loud like maniacs into the quiet night and it engulfed us

and by the time we arrived home we had touched earth

and reincarnated into the sons and daughters and good, sober

and depressed youth we were before we used our tickets on our starship ride...

Our vision floated before us in our dreams

and we held on to our hope with a rope

and hoped it would wash the dirtiness of the guilt we felt for rejecting our parents dreams.


They weren't our dreams, they weren't ours, they were just different

and it was not
their fault that that "they" stumbled

and fell into

the monotonies of survival
and lost their hope on a rope.

Now we just free-fall into age and oblivion just like we are now decades later.

We all seem to have a bad case of “I lost my hope on a rope” blues…

We are standing in the shadows of our dreams and find we are not measuring up...

We recognize our children are fighting the same fight;

fighting the same guilt and holding on to hope like soap on a rope, hoping to bathe in the river someday...

May we always have that final vision of hope tattooed upon our souls.

~Zep

[fredcowie]

Wow! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Fred

[mwzephyr]

Thank you Fred for your notice. :D:

[lifeboat]

I liked this Joyous. At the start I was taken back to the intoxication of glimpsing the world as it could be, both globally ( universal peace and love ) and personally ( i would teach at the highest level and had already found true love ). My reality bump included discovering my fears were more powerful than my dreams.
Then your talk of dreams dying reminded me of Willy Russell writing in Shirley Valentine that it wasnt 'her husbands fault that he had become dull and boring, he hadn't wanted his dreams to die either, but eventually keeping them alive in the reality of working class Liverpool ( akak the monotonies of survival - nice one! ) was just too much of a burden to carry any further'. ( I am misquoting but I think have the spirit of it ).
What I have found though is that when I lower my gaze from the distant, unattainable horizon, I do discover beautiful flowers and precious insects. When I am not thinking what next I have time to ask my neighbour about their day and let their answer enrich my life. Sometimes I have time to notice someone is struggling and in offering support find my own heart gladdened.
It is my life, not my parents, that I live. And learning to assert my independence was not without pain. It was made easier by the eventual realisation that they were human, and had dreams they were entitled to just like me. When I eventually said goodbye to my Father I was saying goodbye to my best friend but his wisdom and love lives on in me even now.
I now know that worrying about tomorrow's step will only make me more likely to stumble today.
Sorry for rambling - this wasnt the post I set out to write

[Ron Atchison]

First of all Zep.... BEAUTIFULLY written! I started reading it and could not stop.

For me it brought back memories I totally forgot were there... the way our music made us feel, the magic of our youth and then, of course, the occasional despair we feel when we look in the mirror or consider what direction we might be moving in.

I think I'll just leave it at that. I loved it... especially the references to 'hope on a rope.' Most excellent!

[mwzephyr]

Thank you .

~Zep

[STAReye]

Wonderful ! Gripping !!