Sunday, July 4, 2010

"son", he said, "i've come to take you home . . ."

part of my ride 'round lake ontario
is to honour the existence of my father
who through my mother sponsored me on my ride.

he had such great expectations of me as a younger person that he was fearful of the outcome. so fearful that he missed many of the little successes. happily, as he grew both inside and outside of himself, he came to know that success is a transitory thing and that much of this place is really about learning how to be.
to really and fully be.

i think about him and his life.

when my dad flew away i thought a lot
about his time in the south of england.

he and i were both born of the north.
he further north than me.

the south was a strange place.
civilized in ways we each knew about
maybe even embraced in our separate and secret lives
both framed in earthly ambitions.

it was a trip to dorset in my late twenties
that brought me face-to-face
with an element of the south
that i knew something of
but hadn't taken in

there's a depth
of historical presence
spiritual presence

apres vu
let alone deja vu
describes my experiencing
of walking through wessex

so salisbury figured largely
in my thinking on my father's
trajectory

by coincidence i played
peter gabriel's song
solsbury hill
quite a bit around the flying away
of my father


and kyte's version inserted itself
into that big moment

here 'tis



kyte solsbury hill

5 comments:

Noelle said...

Hi Steven,
I enjoyed this post very much. It is a very deep and private connection that you have made with your father in this experience and much to be valued and respected. I admire your being able to talk about it here. Beautiful song to deepen its meaning as well. Thank you for sharing something so profound.
Noelle

Lisa Ursu said...

I felt this post Steven, and it is beautiful!

apres vu
let alone deja vu

rolls off of the tongue!

Solsbury Hill has much significance for me. I must admit that I am biased as I love the original version, but Kyte's version is great! Thanks for this introduction to a new sound.

Enjoy your SUNday Steven.

Aleks said...

Love your story and I enjoyed the music very much! Hope you are OK!
Greetings!

Friko said...

It's a wonderful area, so full of magical history.

Dan Gurney said...

I visited the Wiki articles on Dorset and Wimborne Minster and I could imagine the spiritual presence of the place.

Peter Gabriel's song is evokes the sad feelings that arise from missing the little connections we might have made with our children because of our not knowing how to really and fully be with the moment.

Thank you for this post. I hope you're enjoying your long ride.