Musings of a Dethroned King on a Bicycle Built For One in an Orgy of Moonlight
It's not the dew... it's you!
A halo of moonlight reflecting from the dew-covered grass ahead of me appeared as a slim silvery ring, and seemed to crawl over each blade with a fluidity and intent, flowing in unison with my movement, following as sure and true as my own shadow in it’s obedience. I stopped, and my shadow and it’s silver halo stopped with me.
It was that moment, and no sooner, that we became inseparable, and by saying ‘we’, I mean the sun and it’s beam causing a sky full o’ moon to relay it’s piercing blueness from that sky down onto a thousand waiting blades of grass, each covered with countless spherical droplets of dew, and each one passing that light straight through the curved lenses of my willing eyeballs.
The sun was indeed hard with light that night, and how many spheres it’s straight shaft of gold had penetrated in this grand celestial act to cause that perfectly round silvery circle to enclose my shadow’s head, so gently laid upon the grass before me like some sacred egg born from those countless unions, I knew not. I did not pretend to imagine the number, but as I moved, the halo also moved to the right, and I could now determine which countless watery orbs below me would be impregnated with the light. Such might!
Could I even be stopped? My crown’d shadow raced ahead of me now; I was riding a bicycle built for one, and as the world teetered below me, I dared not topple it. My shadoe bucked and frolicked in the wet grass before me, and I dared not interrupt it-- I allowed it. I was to be a benevolent king, and I began to envision a reign of great joy.
‘You are what you do!’ I’d heard it before, and when balancing a world below me while casting a crown upon myself, it did seem true, but alas-- right before I could go on to claim my rightful throne-- before I could even begin to think that with such power and will that I could never be stopped, and right after I had assumed that my divine equilibrium and blessed sight were solely at my command, it all came to an abrupt end.
I sneezed.
Too short? It all happened so fast. Before the sneeze, I was reading some Alan Watts, and he was describing how, unless our eyeball is in the perfect location at the perfect time to see the sunlight hit a cloud of watery mist, then a rainbow can't be seen, and may not even exist. I thought about it, and wrote a song about it in 1998, called Three Little Things. The song was performed and recorded by a band that I was in called the Confounders, and here is that recording. Enjoy!
Three Little Things
thanks as always for reading, listening, or looking at my artwork here. There is more at @therealpaul, including the developing plans for saving the world, more music and artwork, plus some curious things that can't be described here
I read this and listened to the song yesterday, but I was having a hell of a time getting comments to post so I gave up. Now I have a head cold which seems to be gumming up my brain, and I hate not leaving comments that do justice to the post, especially your post. I can come up with brilliant and gorgeous. For the words and the visuals and the music :)
Man, that kind of contemplative writing really gets me hooked every single time. Alan Watts is one of my favorite thinkers, so I'm happy to hear he inspired this. At first it made me think about that Coldplay song about how the king used to rule the world, but as I was immersed further, I discovered this to be so much more. That ending was the only to end this, I think. Terrific stuff, brother!
I've tried to remember which Alan Watts book contained the bit about the rainbow and the eyeball, funnily I think it was probably the one called 'THIS IS IT'. His books definitely gave me a lot to think about.
I could think of no better way to end the piece either, the power of being able to influence so many millions of illuminated orbs started going to my head- I was in need of humbling. I'm glad you liked this, thanks for the input, as always!
Hey luv, I wrote you in chat, time sensitive stuff :)
That's such a happy, catchy little tune. I like the soft harmonies that start in the middle. Is that all you or someone backing you?
I was just listening to a recording of Alan Watts yesterday. @lorenzohagerty posted a conversation Watts had with Allen Ginsberg and Timothy Leary. It was fascinating listening to them, in the late 60's, chatting with each other about the future. In some ways, they were incredibly visionary, and in others maybe a little naive. Some of it sounded like it could have been recorded yesterday because the dialog and the issues were the same.
The vocal harmonies on this one are the drummer Rich Goodrum, he could hit those super high notes.
I read just a few of Alan Watts' books, but they had a big impact on the way I saw the world, his way of describing things is so acute, it sticks.
I made links to the individual tracks on that dropbox file, try that again when you can, and let me know if I need to try another way to get those to you.
You wrote a great post. It really touches my heart. I hope that you use simpler words the next time around so that non-native speakers will easily understand your post. I am saying this out of my honest thoughts. You are excellent in caughting people
s emotions but it is best to avoid words that are difficut to understand. Thats it and have a good day!I admit that I made up a few of those words, like 'crown'd' is spelled 'crowned', and there are a couple of others. Sometimes I misspell words to make the verse fit the rhythm, or something like that! Thanks for the advice, and thanks for reading.
Hehe, I love that kind of verse! And to end by a sneeze! Marvelous :0)
I've been usurped by a hiccup, I hate to admit, and now humbled by a sneeze! Can a king just quit?
Nah, a king must endure!
I sneezed ... made a breeze ... and froze my nose
It's that 'wind-chill factor', I heard about it on the news.
Great post, the art is so beautiful ,you are looking like a real king, with majestic looks. The finish of the story is wonderful with sneezing. The song is also great, conclusion, great post. I couldn't connect with you earlier due to some problems, but now all are OK. Wish you good luck my dear friend, how are you doing and thanks.
A sneeze can take a king off of his throne for a moment, like an internal coup.
I think Steemit has been having some tech troubles lately, I'm having trouble connecting too. Thanks for commenting, I'm happy that you saw this one. Please have a wonderful morning!
Very true, I have also facing the same problems, connection. Thanks for the sweet reply and wish .Wish you good luck good health and happiness in every walk of life, thank you so much.