Shangri La
- Peace and quiet and open air... I think November is the month of correspondence with women I have loved. Spent the last week biking up and down the ridge to Grass Valley, where I'm doing some landscaping for Habitat for Humanity. I know every pothole and steep bit of grade along that canyonside. Took a tumble one afternoon and busted up my arms and legs, but I can ride well enough for it. I'm teaching now, high-schoolers, and doing a bit of permaculture on the side. Spent the morning learning about planting and pruning apple trees from the local Master Gardeners.
Small, slow thing happen in my life here. It's quiet, in my little cabin in the woods, and I'm often lonely. Every morning I walk down to the bath-house to fill up containers for drinking water. Lately, my breath's billowed out in misty swirling clouds, backlit by the sun rising over the far ridge. The winter rainclouds brood over ponderosa hillsides, little drops muffled by the pine duff. My little garden will sprout gloriously come springtime.
I'm writing again, after a long time away. The weights on my heart are lightened a little, remembering smiles I haven't thought about in years. Outside, the wind is picking up, carrying yellow catalpa leaves in stumbling flights across the lawn. Go out to the meadow; scare off all the crows...
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"Every step of the way we walk the line
Your days are numbered, so are mine
Time is pilin' up, we struggle and we scrape
We're all boxed in, nowhere to escape
City's just a jungle, more games to play
Trapped in the heart of it, trying to get away
I was raised in the country, I been workin' in the town
I been in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down
Got nothing for you, I had nothing before
Don't even have anything for myself anymore
Sky full of fire, pain pourin' down
Nothing you can sell me, I'll see you around
All my powers of expression and thoughts so sublime
Could never do you justice in reason or rhyme
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long
Well, the devil's in the alley, mule's in the stall
Say anything you wanna, I have heard it all
I was thinkin' about the things that Rosie said
I was dreaming I was sleeping in Rosie's bed
Walking through the leaves, falling from the trees
Feeling like a stranger nobody sees
So many things that we never will undo
I know you're sorry, I'm sorry too
Some people will offer you their hand and some won't
Last night I knew you, tonight I don't
I need somethin' strong to distract my mind
I'm gonna look at you 'til my eyes go blind
Well I got here following the southern star
I crossed that river just to be where you are
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long
Well my ship's been split to splinters and it's sinking fast
I'm drownin' in the poison, got no future, got no past
But my heart is not weary, it's light and it's free
I've got nothin' but affection for all those who've sailed with me
Everybody movin' if they ain't already there
Everybody got to move somewhere
Stick with me baby, stick with me anyhow
Things should start to get interesting right about now
My clothes are wet, tight on my skin
Not as tight as the corner that I painted myself in
I know that fortune is waitin' to be kind
So give me your hand and say you'll be mine
Well, the emptiness is endless, cold as the clay
You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long." - Bob Dylan
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.
.
Small, slow thing happen in my life here. It's quiet, in my little cabin in the woods, and I'm often lonely. Every morning I walk down to the bath-house to fill up containers for drinking water. Lately, my breath's billowed out in misty swirling clouds, backlit by the sun rising over the far ridge. The winter rainclouds brood over ponderosa hillsides, little drops muffled by the pine duff. My little garden will sprout gloriously come springtime.
I'm writing again, after a long time away. The weights on my heart are lightened a little, remembering smiles I haven't thought about in years. Outside, the wind is picking up, carrying yellow catalpa leaves in stumbling flights across the lawn. Go out to the meadow; scare off all the crows...
.
.
.
"Every step of the way we walk the line
Your days are numbered, so are mine
Time is pilin' up, we struggle and we scrape
We're all boxed in, nowhere to escape
City's just a jungle, more games to play
Trapped in the heart of it, trying to get away
I was raised in the country, I been workin' in the town
I been in trouble ever since I set my suitcase down
Got nothing for you, I had nothing before
Don't even have anything for myself anymore
Sky full of fire, pain pourin' down
Nothing you can sell me, I'll see you around
All my powers of expression and thoughts so sublime
Could never do you justice in reason or rhyme
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long
Well, the devil's in the alley, mule's in the stall
Say anything you wanna, I have heard it all
I was thinkin' about the things that Rosie said
I was dreaming I was sleeping in Rosie's bed
Walking through the leaves, falling from the trees
Feeling like a stranger nobody sees
So many things that we never will undo
I know you're sorry, I'm sorry too
Some people will offer you their hand and some won't
Last night I knew you, tonight I don't
I need somethin' strong to distract my mind
I'm gonna look at you 'til my eyes go blind
Well I got here following the southern star
I crossed that river just to be where you are
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long
Well my ship's been split to splinters and it's sinking fast
I'm drownin' in the poison, got no future, got no past
But my heart is not weary, it's light and it's free
I've got nothin' but affection for all those who've sailed with me
Everybody movin' if they ain't already there
Everybody got to move somewhere
Stick with me baby, stick with me anyhow
Things should start to get interesting right about now
My clothes are wet, tight on my skin
Not as tight as the corner that I painted myself in
I know that fortune is waitin' to be kind
So give me your hand and say you'll be mine
Well, the emptiness is endless, cold as the clay
You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way
Only one thing I did wrong
Stayed in Mississippi a day too long." - Bob Dylan
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