Motorbiking By Moonlight
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Or, How To Have A Mystical Experience
Pick a misty night, lit by a bright moon in a cloudless sky
Find an ancient piece of country road, winding between generations old fields
With strong stone walls in places, and thick, life-filled hedgerows in others
Your road should pass over hump-back bridges, if possible
Ones just wide enough for a hay-rick, if the driver was good
With the life-giving river, in flood or simply passing by
Flowing beneath spans raised by men who built for the ages
Be alert now, for minions of the law
or other innocent travelers, lest they disturb you
for you may disturb them;
Slow your engine, reduce your exhilarating speed
Slower now, but do not stop
Remove your life preserving helmet, extinguish the blazing lights
Let yourself by guided by the illuminating moonbeams
By the feel of the road beneath you
By the love of Mother Earth around you
By the Zen of your own skill and knowledge of your machine
Witness the gentle caress of the mist and moonlight
With lights on, at speed, the mist is an enemy
To be fought and pierced with halogen beams
Struggled through and despaired of.
At your cruising pace, with lights off
And senses alert, Zen at full stretch
The mist is a friend, a display of nature
A marvel, placed for you
The moon a lover, to inflame your mystical side
Let your feelings soar
Purge some of your demons
Free your self, if only a little
That is better than not at all
Travel this way for a while
Until you feel so free you must stop
And experience the peace of the night
When you resume, see the painted artifice of civilization
for what it really is
And don't forget, to laugh at and pity
Those who travel in tin-boxes, and can never know
The wonder you have just been part of
Pick a misty night, lit by a bright moon in a cloudless sky
Find an ancient piece of country road, winding between generations old fields
With strong stone walls in places, and thick, life-filled hedgerows in others
Your road should pass over hump-back bridges, if possible
Ones just wide enough for a hay-rick, if the driver was good
With the life-giving river, in flood or simply passing by
Flowing beneath spans raised by men who built for the ages
Be alert now, for minions of the law
or other innocent travelers, lest they disturb you
for you may disturb them;
Slow your engine, reduce your exhilarating speed
Slower now, but do not stop
Remove your life preserving helmet, extinguish the blazing lights
Let yourself by guided by the illuminating moonbeams
By the feel of the road beneath you
By the love of Mother Earth around you
By the Zen of your own skill and knowledge of your machine
Witness the gentle caress of the mist and moonlight
With lights on, at speed, the mist is an enemy
To be fought and pierced with halogen beams
Struggled through and despaired of.
At your cruising pace, with lights off
And senses alert, Zen at full stretch
The mist is a friend, a display of nature
A marvel, placed for you
The moon a lover, to inflame your mystical side
Let your feelings soar
Purge some of your demons
Free your self, if only a little
That is better than not at all
Travel this way for a while
Until you feel so free you must stop
And experience the peace of the night
When you resume, see the painted artifice of civilization
for what it really is
And don't forget, to laugh at and pity
Those who travel in tin-boxes, and can never know
The wonder you have just been part of
