Plague Journal, Say A Prayer
Well it is Sunday, blazing hot, and we need rain. Looking for rain in early June… What is happening to us?
I wanted to change my routine. I began the 
day with an early walk around the backyard. Nature is uplifting, visually inspiring as vegetation is in seasonal bloom, and wild life is at a peak of activity. Sometimes there’s unexpected delight such as a baby bunny emerging from the hosta, pausing before dashing away to cover. I took some photographs as I walked around. Walking about each day presents images not noticed before.
Nature is a raw exchange of cause and effect, which seen from another angle of view is exquisite form, a kaleidoscope of color. I think that I feel the paradox to some degree. The incipient drought in Midwest, and the severe drought conditions in the West are haunting.
I subscribe to the Sunday edition of the New York Times. The print edition is expensive but nothing compares to holding newsprint in one’s lap, while absorbing first rate writing with traditional journalistic standards. Today in the front page section of the paper I read a story coming from Memphis Tennessee. Our countrymen living in Memphis, spearheaded by the Tennessee historical society, and 
Black citizens inspired no doubt by the BLM movement are having the remains of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife Maryann removed from the Robert R. Church public park. Forrest was a slave trader and the founder of the Ku Klux Klan. The copper clad coffins and a statue of Forrest will be relocated to a Confederate Memorial Museum 200 miles away in Columbia, Tennessee. The story caught my attention in particular because mention was made that the Sons of Confederate Veterans sued the city over the exhumation. Many years ago I was a member of the SCV. I allowed my membership to lapse because I did not share their desire to fight the war once again if given the opportunity.
We are a deeply divided country. We persist in denial that human trafficking featured in our founding. To read the New York Times article CLICK HERE.
The right tune helps greatly to carry us forward, allowing us to accomplish what must be done. This is a great tune by Jackson Browne, The Pretender.
The Pretender
By Jackson Browne
In the shade of the freeway
I’m going to pack my lunch in the morning
And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
I’ll go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I’ll get up and do it again
Amen
Say it again
AmenI want to know what became of the changes
We waited for love to bring
Were they only the fitful dreams
Of some greater awakening
I’ve been aware of the time going by
They say in the end it’s the wink of an eye
And when the morning light comes streaming in
You’ll get up and do it again
Amen Caught between the longing for love
And the struggle for the legal tender
Where the sirens sing and the church bells ring
And the junk man pounds his fender
Where the veterans dream of the fight
Fast asleep at the traffic light
And the children solemnly wait
For the ice cream vendor
Out into the cool of the evening
Strolls the Pretender
He knows that all his hopes and dreams
Begin and end thereAh the laughter of the lovers
As they run through the night
Leaving nothing for the others
But to choose off and fight
And tear at the world with all their might
While the ships bearing their dreams
Sail out of sight
I’m going to find myself a girl
Who can show me what laughter means
And we’ll fill in the missing colors
In each other’s paint-by-number dreams
And then we’ll put our dark glasses on
And we’ll make love until our strength is gone
And when the morning light comes streaming in
We’ll get up and do it again
Get it up again
I’m going to be a happy idiot
And struggle for the legal tender
Where the ads take aim and lay their claim
To the heart and the soul of the spender
And believe in whatever may lie
In those things that money can buy
Though true love could have been a contender
Are you there?
Say a prayer for the Pretender
Who started out so young and strong
Only to surrender
