Life, Traveling Blind
Spent a troubled night, awakening at intervals. Dreams are unaccountable. The recurring dream included several lyric lines from Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne”. Not an unpleasant dream for me, I like the song. The alarm sounded at 6AM. A few minutes later, hardly awake, I heard from NPR that Trump’s son-in-law is angling for a role in the administration. Family running the country gave me a chill. One big happy company town. Like a 19th century Pullman Village but in the 21 St Century. Then came a further report that Wall Street guys are being considered for the cabinet. I thought of the ’08 housing bubble and collapse, brought on by Wall Streets esoteric financial instruments, used to hide great numbers of failing mortgages, sold off to the unsuspecting, world wide. We have yet to recover. A single Wall Street scapegoat went to prison. This is nothing but endo-colonialism. And these guys are in line to run the country? I felt worse.
Then I began to think carefully about the lines of Cohen’s song. The narrator encounters Suzanne by the river. Suzanne is a image, a metaphor for the gift of life, the awareness that one is alive, present here and now. “She” is a indescribable presence. She’s “half crazy,”-bringing unanticipated resources, and vectors, into a mood of despair, hopelessness. The narrator is barely responsive and is offered tea and oranges for nourishment. The narrator says that he has nothing to offer her as he’s emotionally and existentially drained, empty. I’ll just give you the lyric segment:
And just when you mean to tell her
That you have no love to give her
Then she gets you on her wavelength
And she lets the river answer
That you’ve always been her lover
And you want to travel with her
And you want to travel blind
And you know that she will trust you
For you’ve touched her perfect body with your mind.
Life itself renews, reinvigorates the narrator. The point made is that of love. Love of life is unaccountably restored, and one is enabled to journey on. Desire is rekindled. One travels on, traveling blindly, as the future is unforeseen. It’s a matter of trust. More lyrics:
And she shows you where to look
Among the garbage and the flowers
There are heroes in the seaweed
There are children in the morning
They are leaning out for love
And they will lean that way forever.
Life is painfully a mixed bag, garbage and flowers. My emotional reaction to the outcome of the election is WTF. But I know that each individual who cast their vote for the winner, did so for their own reasons. We must journey on. There are literally “children in the morning,” who depend upon us for love. Got any kids or grand kids? We must journey on friends, we simply must. You can be a hero in the seaweed.
2 thoughts on “Life, Traveling Blind”
Great choice of lyrics Jerry. I wouldn’t take down this post. I have always loved “Suzanne”. I specially liked your last paragraph. It is positive and uplifting and wise. I have been wondering why DJT chose to tun for office. Before the election I was thinking he is working for HRC to make the GOP look bad. Yeah conspiracy theorist! After the election I am wondering why he ran for office. Maybe his big fat ego trying to prove something? Maybe he really wants to make America great again, whatever that means. Nepotism? Lets not forget JFK made RFK AG. Was that right? Was it wrong.? One might say 2 wrongs dont make a right. But if JFK did it why cant DJT do it? It was a heck of a choice the country had, between a buffoon and a crook. 300 million people in the country and these 2 were the best we could come up with? “And the band plays on”. The system continues. Better if the choice had been between Bernie and Johnson, the country would have a clear choice which direction it wants to go in. Instead many people voted for what they consider the lesser of 2 evils. But whats done is done. I am hoping the system of checks and balances will help to put a lid on DJT and limit the damage. Its gonna be an interesting 4 years.
Yes, there is so much that just does not add up. The band plays on until it doesn’t. Reason is no match for passion when politics is verbal combat. Thanks for your thoughtful comments.