By Dutch Dykstra (Darkness/Faith/Perplexed)
“Hello darkness my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again.” No matter how many times I hear the song I am always carried away by it. Simon and Garfunkel have always been one of my favorites. Timeless classic music and poetic lyrics, which speak to your very soul. It’s classic stuff not like what the kids listen to nowadays.
And it relaxes me, takes me away, and makes me forget the harder times. If the timing is right it makes me nostalgic or perhaps romantic. Were things simpler then?? Who knows. . . .? They say a bad memory is one of the gifts of old age. “In restless dreams I walked alone, down narrow streets of cobblestone.” Amazing really, that some of the most popular stuff of all time dealt with the simplest of concepts. Things like love, laughter, the good life, America the beautiful, Chevrolets and of course, baseball.
“But my words like silent raindrops fell, and echoed in the wells. . . .Of silence.” Perplexed I try to envision a “well of silence” it’s not so very hard. . . . . amazing song. There will never be another one like it, or “Bridge over Troubled Water” and they are eternal in their own way. I wonder if some of the stuff that is so popular today will enjoy such a historical significance?? Who knows? Some of it I find very catchy and some . . . not so much, as the kids say.
“And the people bowed and prayed, to the neon God they made. . .” I really should be up and about, I have so very much to do. It seems as though my schedule is never ending and always growing, but it is refreshing to stop and smell the roses occasionally, and just do nothing but listen to a really, really excellent song. “And the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls. . . . .”
Even as good as the lyrics were I couldn’t get ALL of the day to day responsibilities out of my psyche this time. As I mentioned I am aged, although I am not tired. I am nostalgic, but I have a keen memory. I have been through the hard times as well as the good. I have seen war, and I have felt undying love. I have born witness to many amazing things in my time. . . . . dictators, depressions, comets, tidal waves, shooting stars, atomic bombs, broken hearts, rainbows, slavery, war, and what can pass for peace. I’ve seen it all, and probably influenced a good deal of it in one way or another in my own small way. Because you see I am not the poet, bard, writer or singer. . . . . . . but I am the ingredient that “makes the cake” as they say. . . . . I am music. And I am also the sound of silence, because music is everywhere, if only you can stop and listen.
“Hello darkness my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again.” No matter how many times I hear the song I am always carried away by it. Simon and Garfunkel have always been one of my favorites. Timeless classic music and poetic lyrics, which speak to your very soul. It’s classic stuff not like what the kids listen to nowadays.
And it relaxes me, takes me away, and makes me forget the harder times. If the timing is right it makes me nostalgic or perhaps romantic. Were things simpler then?? Who knows. . . .? They say a bad memory is one of the gifts of old age. “In restless dreams I walked alone, down narrow streets of cobblestone.” Amazing really, that some of the most popular stuff of all time dealt with the simplest of concepts. Things like love, laughter, the good life, America the beautiful, Chevrolets and of course, baseball.
“But my words like silent raindrops fell, and echoed in the wells. . . .Of silence.” Perplexed I try to envision a “well of silence” it’s not so very hard. . . . . amazing song. There will never be another one like it, or “Bridge over Troubled Water” and they are eternal in their own way. I wonder if some of the stuff that is so popular today will enjoy such a historical significance?? Who knows? Some of it I find very catchy and some . . . not so much, as the kids say.
“And the people bowed and prayed, to the neon God they made. . .” I really should be up and about, I have so very much to do. It seems as though my schedule is never ending and always growing, but it is refreshing to stop and smell the roses occasionally, and just do nothing but listen to a really, really excellent song. “And the words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls. . . . .”
Even as good as the lyrics were I couldn’t get ALL of the day to day responsibilities out of my psyche this time. As I mentioned I am aged, although I am not tired. I am nostalgic, but I have a keen memory. I have been through the hard times as well as the good. I have seen war, and I have felt undying love. I have born witness to many amazing things in my time. . . . . dictators, depressions, comets, tidal waves, shooting stars, atomic bombs, broken hearts, rainbows, slavery, war, and what can pass for peace. I’ve seen it all, and probably influenced a good deal of it in one way or another in my own small way. Because you see I am not the poet, bard, writer or singer. . . . . . . but I am the ingredient that “makes the cake” as they say. . . . . I am music. And I am also the sound of silence, because music is everywhere, if only you can stop and listen.
Writers love hearing from readers. Leave a comment, won't you? Thanks!