94 in August. ‘Nuff said.
WHEN in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary….
Welcome to the New American Digest: 2003-2020
He thought he kept the universe alone;
For all the voice in answer he could wake
Was but the mocking echo of his own
From some tree-hidden cliff across the lake.
Some morning from the boulder-broken beach
He would cry out on life, that what it wants
Is not its own love back in copy speech,
But counter-love, original response.
And nothing ever came of what he cried
Unless it was the embodiment that crashed
In the cliff’s talus on the other side,
And then in the far distant water splashed,
But after a time allowed for it to swim,
Instead of proving human when it neared
And someone else additional to him,
As a great buck it powerfully appeared,
Pushing the crumpled water up ahead,
And landed pouring like a waterfall,
And stumbled through the rocks with horny tread,
And forced the underbrush–and that was all.
Gerard Van der Leun
When all Earth’s seas shall Levitate,
Dark shawled within the skies,
Upon our eyes will Starfish dance
Their waltz of Blind surprise.
The sun will Rise within wine Dark
As Argonauts imbibed,
Whose drunken arms embrace that sleep
Where Phaeton’s horses Stride.
Upon all of Earth’s wind-sanded shores,
As dolphins Learn to soar,
All we once were on the land
Shall be sealed behind the door
Of Ivory and Chastened Gold,
That the Mystery solved complete
Shall never til the seas’ Long fall
Wake mariners from their sleep.
— Van der Leun
I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself,
And what I assume you shall assume,
For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.
I loafe and invite my soul,
I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass.
My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this
air,
Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their
parents the same,
I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin,
Hoping to cease not till death.
— Walt Whitman
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
— The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot
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Diana Panton covers this beautifully. If you close your eyes, you can see her gently rock a sleeping wee bairnie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBSuxSQQkFE
I loved the boat people and the gorgeous boats. Lots of lovelies and some adult beverages on a warm summer day in a beautiful place and not a single negro or purple haired tattooed soul amongst ’em. If they’re watching that oughta tell them something, eh.
I do remember those days and being involved with girls like those when I was a healthy young buck; they were fine and so much fun and although chasing those fine creatures was literally an endless endeavor I had to hang it up at around 55. I just got bored but then I met a beautiful little red-headed keeper who put a bow on me and made me incredibly happy.
But still, I do remember….
Gerard very often posts the “Boomer Ballads”, rock hits from when I and many others here were young, and stoned. I love most of those tunes, even though I’m tired of them.
But there are the pop songs like “Fly Me to the Moon”, and others as well that were hits before the Beatles, and then the psychedelic thing took over. I don’t do it often, but sometimes when I get a buzz going and I’m feeling nostalgic I find myself clicking on this song, “More”, “Volare”, “Guantanamera”, Moon River”, “That’s Life”, “The Shelter of Your Arms”, and a lot of others that my twenty something year old self would have been embarrassed to leave on the AM radio when we were cruising the boulevard. These numbers tap a deeper well of memory, and call me back to a much better time.
This recording actually brought me to tears.
Thanks.
JWM
Tony does a nice version of the old standard “Time After Time”
@jwm,
I’m in the same boat. I love the music from the 40s and 50s – Jazz and Blues and the crooners. I have recently discovered an amazing young jazz singer who covers a lot of them. She has published 130+ videos so far. Here is her version of Fly Me to the Moon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf2OjlOBGVY
This is her cover channel which lists all of her work to date. I say to date because she’s only 14, going on some indeterminate age that fits in with the best jazz club you ever imagined.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2v8kgVeo4EbQD6l_WAVjOfItquzW7oEc