Saturday, May 2, 2015

In the eye of the sun






The current version of my river walk is a great improvement on all my previous routes. I now leave the river road and its well traveled paths, descend roughly 200 stairs (passing, twice in a row now, an Indian man in orange Syracuse University sportswear who likes to walk with his eyes closed) until I am on a quiet, spacious path skirting the edge of the Mississippi River. It is a secret world down there of geese, brilliant graffiti, and strangely appealing city drains, tunnels and sewers. It is an underbridge land of trolls and walking trees and trickling cliffs. Walk through the river paths and you thread the needle of the city, floating through its mystical heart. Like all things that are slightly too good to be true it is prone to be forgotten. I forgot it. I just remembered it again.

What a thing to stand alone in a paradise, in a magic looking glass of the sun, on the banks of a legendary river, and see two bridges, high up, full of cars in construction traffic, all lost souls in line with some demonic plan.

My exalted superiority is temporary. I'm on my way to my car too. I'll join them soon enough, but for now, the whole city is mine alone...




2 comments:

  1. Perhaps it is time to practice walking with your eyes closed. It seems cruel to miss out on the beauteous graffiti and geese on the river but at least the ideal can be preserved from the contamination of swarming petro-junkies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well then, that must be what Mr. Syracuse Man is up to. I fortunately have learned the trick of holding heaven and hell at once, and so will continue to dare the unthinkable- my eyes will remain open for a bit longer....

      Delete

If you were wondering, yes, you should comment. Not only does it remind me that I must write in intelligible English because someone is actually reading what I write, but it is also a pleasure for me since I am interested in anything you have to say.

I respond to pretty much every comment. It's like a free personalized blog post!

One last detail: If you are commenting on a post more than two weeks old I have to go in and approve it. It's sort of a spam protection device. Also, rarely, a comment will go to spam on its own. Give either of those a day or two and your comment will show up on the blog.