445. As Long As One and One is Two

From across the room John had watched. He saw not a little girl, nor her mother and his wife waring Kyra. Instead, as if the scene entire moved the clouds from his mind and heart and soul, and for the first time saw a sun shinning bright, and as one is thunderstruck with the realization of a truth that has always been front and center but never awared (my coined word--a play on "waring" taken from the root "awareness"), John saw purpose and meaning upon the stage that had not existed in the mirror since the passing of Cait.

He moved toward the stage, not of mind but of heart; and his step was not as steps, of lifting and falling, of foot and floor, but of a gravitational pull, a pull a thousand Johns, with all their muscle and sinew, with all their sweat and labor, could not have resisted. Upon that stage stood his world spinning him toward her as surely as the earth spins the moon. As he walked across the stage from left to right, Ariel turned toward his large puppy dog eyes. As Rog, before, John knelt and the crew watched a private moment on a public stage as words were whispered and the anxious mien of a diminutive angel transformed into a smile.

Taking the mic from his daughter, John, on bended knee with Ariel perched upon, said, "I've asked Ariel to join me in this next song." John paused as if to find composure as he felt what was behind him and what was before was as the dusk to dawn; and in the morning stillness, where the sun silently kisses the morning dew (aloetic meadows of shinning green swords), his palm sweaty and his knee lightbulb warm, began to sing.




Father and Daughter
(song and lyrics by Paul Simon)

If you leap awake
In the mirror of a bad dream
And for a fraction of a second
You can't remember where you are
Just open your window
And follow your memory upstream
To the meadow in the mountain
Where we counted every falling star

I believe the light that shines on you
Will shine on you forever
And though I can't guarantee
There's nothing scary hiding under your bed
I’m gonna stand guard
Like a postcard of a Golden Retriever
And never leave till I leave you
With a sweet dream in your head

I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father
Who loved his daughter more than I love you

Trust your intuition
It's just like going fishing
You cast your line
And hope you'll get a bite
But you don't need to waste your time
Worrying about the market place
Try to help the human race
Struggling to survive its harshest night

I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father
Who loved his daughter more than I love you

I'm gonna watch you shine
Gonna watch you grow
Gonna paint a sign
So you'll always know
As long as one and one is two
There could never be a father
Who loved his daughter more than I love you


When the last note settled upon the liquid eyes sitting still like frogs in a predawn lake, Ariel leaned over and whispered in her daddy's ear, "I wanna hold your hand."

444. To My Mother

Rog walked off stage and into Yul's arms as the sun into a cat's belly. "Baby, I love you," she purred, her puccoon manicured nails marking his back, her eburnean polished teeth teasing his pink lobe.

"Talk don't cook rice," he breathed, popping her tight leathered arse with a Cheshire inducing smile, his hand large and warm and soft like an old baseball mitt left on a summer porch. "Did you like the song?"

"Baby, if I could frail you right here, right now, on this stage--" Yul sighed across his ear, her lips slightly parted and lightly touching his skin as if playing a delicate piccolo.

"Hold that thought, there's a little girl coming our way."

"Mr. Rog, can I sing a song?" asked Ariel, standing soldier straight.

Rog knelt, eye to eye with the little dynamo. Yul stood behind him, her arms on his shoulders, her eyes beaming like ten thousand suns. "What did you have in mind?"

"I want to sing a song to my mother."

Rog looked at Yul. She shrugged her shoulders. "Do you know the words?" he asked.

"Does a pampus chase its tail?" she shot back.

"Right."

Ariel took the stage. Rog nodded toward Von and from the mouth of a little girl, a room fell silent. Kyra felt a whisper in her ear and she knew. And she cried the tears only a mother could shed as a little primrosed angel spoke a language only mothers can hear. Ariel's eyes never left Kyra's, and for a moment, Kyra felt a warmth she had not felt since Kieran pulled her into the next realm. Involuntarily, her lips mouthed the words, "I love you baby."




Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true

Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?
Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

443. One Year Ago

One year ago, the crew of Bravo had their first karaoke night before Yul headed to hospital and Kyra embarked on the ill-fated rescue mission--the first time since leaving Hyneria the crew would be separated. On the anniversary of that occasion and the eve of another mission into harm's way, the crew again has gathered with shot glasses eight (plus three) and song. Rog took the mic first, hair long and with guitar (don't ask), and looked over the crowd as a single spotlight held him as in suspended animation. With everyone's attention, he nodded to Von, and as the music started to play, looked at Yul and said, "Breathe out."





Lyrics: Everlong (Foo Fighters)

Hello
I've waited here for you
Everlong

Tonight
I throw myself into
And out of the red, out of her head she sang

Come down
And waste away with me
Down with me

Slow how
You wanted it to be
I'm over my head, out of her head she sang
Chorus-

And I wonder
When I sing along with you (Yul is singing along here--in a world of her own)
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again

The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when
She sang
Verse 2-

Breathe out
So I could breathe you in
Hold you in

And now
I know you've always been
Out of your head, out of my head I sang
Chorus-

And I wonder
When I sing along with you
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again

The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when
She sang
Chorus-

And I wonder
If everything could ever feel this real forever
If anything could ever be this good again

The only thing I'll ever ask of you
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when
She sang

His sweaty visage came to rest and his eyes found hers as a king finds his queen across a crowded court. Yul looked like a doe, standing in a pool of joy, blue rivers running from her fawnish glossy eyes. Her melanic leathered chest heaved as a balloon about to burst before she remembered--breathe out. From darkness to light, with a canorous quiver of lip, she spoke through the haze, her words riding a hush in the room like a cool breeze, "I promise." And in the space of a snapshot, time paused.

234. Love Is

The night rolled on with each member of the crew taking their turn. Trev, perhaps most of all, shocked everyone with his performance. His golden honeyed voice reached angelic proportions and some wondered why he ever considered medicine. Em seemed lost in her own world as Trev performed, with eyes only for dreams and possibilities.

Last to perform was Kyra. Taking the mike and standing center stage words flowed, or so it seemed, not from the lips but from the pounding in her chest and she looked over the crew toward Von working the bar, yet, as Von would later say, her eyes did not meet his. There are words and music and song but what Kyra performed eclipsed them all. Her eyes shone and her skin appeared to glow and with each movement of arm, with each step of foot, one felt the love and heat of a long simmering volcano erupting in sheer power and beauty that words alone failed to justify. So without further ado, I present to you, Kyra.

you look at me
and I go with you
and it's eternal, this moment
the sun is shining
life is laughing
my heart opens up
I want to give it to you
I want to carry you
I want to love you
for love has remained
didn't ask
is simply there
there's no running away
that's obvious to me

you and I that's quite surely
like a wonderful deep rapture
of the very special kind
and we have a right to
keep meeting again and again
to keep looking at each other
when the big wide world calls
I'll surely go with you

love doesn't want
love doesn't fight
love doesn't become
love is
love doesn't seek
love doesn't ask
love is like you are

good night my marvelous one
and I'd still like to express my gratitude
what you did
what you said
it certainly wasn't easy for you
you think of me in complete love
and what you see only moves forward
you're courageous
you're smart
and I'll always be there for you
that I know for sure

you and I we're like children
who love each other the way they are
who don't lie and don't ask
when there's nothing to ask
we are two and we are one
and we see things clearly
and when one of us must go
we are still always there

we are there, we are there, we are there
we are there, we are there, we are there

love doesn't want
love doesn't fight
love doesn't become
love is
love doesn't seek
love doesn't ask
love feels like you are

love should not
love doesn't fight
love doesn't become
love is
love doesn't seek
love doesn't ask
love is like you are

like you are
like you are
love is like you are
love like you are
love is like you are
love is like you are
love like you are
love is like you are
like you are
like you are

Above Von’s head glowed a bright red orb, pulsing with energy. No one saw it, save Kyra and many, many years later, when the subject of that night surfaced in an interview, a smile and a glow appeared on misty eyes that I swore looked pass me if not over me. I put down my pen and I smiled back, and for just an instant felt I knew what was witnessed by the crew so many years ago. Liebe ist.



Categories: Story, Kyra, Karaoke

233. Supernatural Delight

“You didn’t think we would have a Bravo party without Kieran did you?” Kyra smiled. “Von fill’em up again. Rog, wanna tell us what the surprise is?”

Rog downed his second shot and looked around Kyra to the eighth glass. Empty again. “Hope your boy can dance?” Rog grinned, still a bit unsure what just happened but too excited to let a question or two get in the way. “Now, nobody move.” Rog took off and slipped behind a side door to the right of the bar. Before anyone could ask, Rog’s voice came over the sound system. “Von, lights.”

Three spotlights flooded center stage as Rog jumped from behind the curtains, a mike in his hand, and to everyone’s amazement, a curly wig on his head. “Welcome to showtime. Von, play it brother. Off those stools,” shouted Rog as the first notes of music began to play. “Get your minds right and your joints loose. Rog is in the house.”

Rog came alive. His eyes shinned with energy and love and his head started to bob. Yul was smiling from ear to ear and Rog locked eyes.

We get it “on” most every night
When that moon is big and bright
It’s a supernatural delight
Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight

Rog’s voice flowed forth with a natural roughness, genuine in delivery and just good enough to make everyone forget the performance and slip into the moment as it was meant to be. With the first line, or the fourth word as the case may be, Yul felt her heart pound in her chest as a warm feeling flooded her whole body when Rog turned “on” into a soulful multi-syllable serenade with such powerful sincerity that even Von stopped what he was doing and realized a moment of captured truth as only love and song can reveal.

In the slight pause between the first and second stanzas, Rog slipped into what only seemed later like a trance as his eyes closed and the music rocked his hips, arms moved in sync and his head moved left and right. Watching him dance charged the atmosphere and then, as if he had practiced his moves a thousand times, his bright child-like eyes opened on cue and song rolled over his smiling white teeth like a fresh water stream gushing down the mountain.

Everybody here is out of sight
They don’t bark and they don’t bite
They keep things loose they keep things tight
Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight

Rog rocked, the curls of his wig bouncing and his eyes flashing grins at the semi-circle of mates before him. Hands clapped and hips swayed as for a moment only this performance, this song, this flow of energy existed and so Rog rode the wave moving up and down the stage winking and dancing with moves of hip and shoulder no one imagined him capable.

Dancing in the moonlight
Everybody’s feeling warm and bright
It’s such a fine and natural sight
Everybody’s dancing in the moonlight

Yul jumped up on stage and in the short interlude between the third and forth stanza joined Rog in dance, and to all who observed, they moved as if no one else was there and thoughts of time past and time future remained at bay. Putting his arm around her waist, he pulled her tight as the lyrics fit the embrace and everyone laughed.

We like our fun and we never fight
You can’t dance and stay uptight
It’s a supernatural delight
Everybody was dancing in the moonlight

As the music wound down Rog, sweaty brow and curly wig, pulled Yul tight, kissed her and looked out into the audience with mike extended. “Alright. Who’s next?”



Categories: Story, Rog, Kyra, Yul, Von, Karaoke