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| Flying Dutchman. | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 3 2017, 04:30 PM (54 Views) | |
| crow | Apr 3 2017, 04:30 PM Post #1 |
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The legend of The Flying Dutchman has always captivated me. For many years, I have not known why this was so, and it far predates the years I spent at sea. But now I have some insight that might explain it... There was once a ship, a brig, named Flying Dutchman, captained by a rough and willful man, who, among other traits, was prone to assert his will even over Reality, itself. You might guess, even from this brief description, that it would not end well. This captain found himself, one day, in steadily worsening weather, trying to beat to weather, around The Cape of Good Hope, in South Africa. While he still could easily have managed it, he passed up the safe harbor of Table Bay, where he might have taken shelter awaiting more clement weather. He continued, instead, to slog it out with increasing winds, veering more and more to his bow, threatening to put him on a lee-shore and wreck him. "Weather be damned!" he cried. "I'll have my way if it takes until Judgment Day!" Which is not the way a sailor lives to tell the tale. In resisting Reality, to the extent that he resisted it, he committed a sin against Reality, and was cursed, forevermore, to pay for his sin. To beat to weather, forever, forever unable to make port, ever again. I've often felt like The Flying Dutchman. Forever at sea. Forever trying to go home. Forever unable to. But you see, I'd always thought of home as the world of people, when in Reality, it was no such thing. The world of people, instead, was the wild and heartless ocean, in storm, eager to smash and destroy, to extinguish and drown. Against all odds, I've managed to come home, to what is really Home, and it lies far removed from that mirage of a home: the world of people. Which leads me to realize, it was never me that was a Flying Dutchman, but they, in their crazy world of those who resist Reality, who constitute, en-masse, The Flying Dutchman. Forever doomed to sail awkwardly, uncomfortably, fruitlessly, into worsening storms, past safe harbor, and into turmoil without end. I love the legend; it speaks to me on so many levels. But it gets even better when I realize that it doesn't actually apply to me, at all. It is, instead, a lesson in what can result from declining what is offered, by Reality, scorning it, and forcing one's own hand to carry out one's own will, unto one's own very end. Rockin' Chair. The Band (1970) "Hang around, Willie Boy, Don't you raise the sails anymore. It's for sure, I've spent my whole life at sea; And I'm pushin' age seventy three. Now there's only one place that was meant for me: Oh, to be home again, Down in old Virginny, With my very best friend, They call him Ragtime Willie. We're gonna soothe away the rest of our years, We're gonna put away all of our tears, That big Rockin' Chair won't go nowhere. Slow down, Willie Boy, Your heart's gonna give right out on you It's true, and I believe I know what we should do. Turn the stern and point to shore, The seven seas won't carry us no more. Oh, to be home again, Down in old Virginny, With my very best friend, They call him Ragtime Willie. I can't wait to sniff that air, Dip'n snuff, I won't have no care, That big Rockin' Chair won't go nowhere. Hear the sound, Willie Boy, The Flyin' Dutchman's on the reef. It's my belief We've used up all our time, This hill's too steep to climb, And the days that remain ain't worth a dime. Oh, to be home again, Down in old Virginny, With my very best friend, They call him Ragtime Willie. Would-a-been nice just t'see the folks, Listen once again to the stale jokes, That big Rockin' Chair won't go nowhere. I can hear something calling on me And you know where I wanna be Oh Willie, can't you hear that sound Down In Old Virginny I just wanna get my feet back on the ground Down In Old Virginny And I'd love to see my very best friend They call him Ragtime Willie I believe old Rockin' Chair's got me..." Edited by crow, Apr 3 2017, 04:55 PM.
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| "Squawk!" said the crow, and then made space. | |
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12:30 PM Jul 11