previously known as Robert Zimmerman...
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky
with one hand waving free...
that is from memory -- line endings and such might be off.
As an honor to Senor Dylan here is a poem this poet wrote in honor of the great Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. I wrote it soon after visiting his birthplace near Granada and the spot about 10 miles away where he is believed to have been killed at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Senor Lorca, like Senor Dylan, knows a thing or two and more about diamond skies...(knows in present tense as all great artists, visual and literary and musical, live on long after their deaths through their ARTE). Also, Lorca knew much about the associations between verse and music as he was an exponent of Flamenco music and helped organize a Flamenco festival the decade before his death.
............................................................................................................................
POR FEDERICO, AGOSTO 2004
Hola Lorca:
I was there
at the Fountain of Tears
yesterday,
and today
I can imagine
your spirit
in the clear, cool waters
between
plants of
brilliant shades of green,
standing and swaying
alive in the water,
moving with the bubbles of tears;
it is a pretty place,
one could have
a worse place –
and,
you have your mountains
and olive trees,
moons,
when the nights are right.
You died
ten miles,
as the eagle flies,
from your birthplace,
where your younger spirit
erupted from the mirror
by the piano –
a huge arc
of light
shooting across
your photograph,
and,
a ghostly image
of a face,
forever frozen
on the wall.
..............................................................................................................................................................
Previously I had written:
Do yourself a favor and get one of Bob Dylan's best albums EVER: Tempest, his first new work in three years.
Some of the best stories Dylan has ever told during any parts of his long career are on Tempest.
The title cut does not involve Shakespearean allusions (not repeatedly, anyway) but is a dramatic telling of the Sinking of the Titanic saga.
The last track, Roll On John, is a spiritual ode to Dylan's friend John Lennon.
That tune is enough to make you cry, even if you are listening to it "sober as a judge."
Dylan has to be feeling the supreme elation felt by the most successful artists late in life -- if one can continue to create good art later in life, it helps put up with negatives of aging, such as having to deal with health matters.
Also, the musicianship of Dylan's supporting band of the last few years (see photo for names) is, as usual, superb throughout Tempest.
PH/NM
