The Highway Muse

Back in Brooklyn, I saw a musician on NY1 Talking about NEW YORK, saying if it doesn’t inspire you, what are you doing here? I am thinking I am not very inspired anymore, hence I write songs, poetry, and stories whenever I am away. Hence...the Highway Muse.



On the way to Williamsburg, the first leg of our journey to Greenville, I saw a road sign on I-95 for “CALVARY ROAD.” The germ of a poem formed and I worked on it to this very day and I now see it wants to be a song. I don’t have the music yet. But I think it will be slow and soulful. Something I would like Johnny Cash to talk/sing. So the sign on the road got me thinking about where I've been and where I am going. Got me wondering about what my father might say to me to day...my literal one as well as the almighty metaphorical...I came up with this so far...


Calvary Road.

My father spoke to me,
In a dream,
He said boy, life
Is not what it seems.

There will be times
When you feel
Fed up and bursting
At the seams.

A day may come
When blood will run
And the very earth
Boils and steams.

As you face these trials
Son, this is what you do:
Listen carefully
To the words I say to you.

Don't talk the talk,
Just walk the walk
That lets everybody know
You're on Calvary Road.

All things you're
Thrall to
Are uneven steps
Along the way.

Do not trouble yourself
With petty cruelty
Nor the heavy burden
Of debt to pay.

Remember well
The path you’re shown
Be not impatient
With the words I say.

As you weather storms
And the strain of time
Remember well
What you've been told.

Don't talk the talk,
Just walk the walk
That lets everyone know
You're on Calvary Road.

My son, my son
Our lives are brief.
Fate can be generous
Or fill your days with grief.

Trust yourself
With a compassionate heart
So all the world will know
The way to Calvary Road.