Wish for a Traveler

As I write this my friend Andrew, a self proclaimed gypsy, is on the road taking the vintage motorcycle he rebuilt himself (The Silver Ghost-detail above) on a road trip to NYC, a journey he's documenting for Classic Motorcycle magazine. I'm excited for him but also more than a little envious. Besides a newborn, what could be more optimistic than a road trip? Especially one so suited to the individual, one whose purpose goes beyond caprice to something more like quest. Learning what the road can teach is always exciting. It makes me think of some lines I wrote a long time ago:

"when idle ideas root,

and he can no more not go

than he can tell why he must,

he packs...

because the mother road

and every road

is a pulse that throbs

from his wrist up his driving arm

and he knows the worth of journey

as much as the going

is the carrying inside

and the coming back home"

Good luck and bon voyage!