Let's Keep Moving

Hunger pangs me, love pains me, music sustains me. Let's keep moving.
News bores me, money ignores me, people entice me. Let's keep moving.
Fiction inspires me, truth enlightens me, roaming drives me. Let's keep moving.
Math confuses me, strangers define me, life survives me. Let's keep moving.
Heaven's beyond me, politics distract me, economy lies. Let's keep moving.
Rain washes me, sunshine bathes me, clouds shade me. Let's keep moving.
Drugs trap me, boozing troubles me, laughing delights me. Let's keep moving.
Songs lift me, stories teach me, banter delights me. Let's keep moving.
Creation amazes me, work strengthens me, boredom kills me. Let's keep moving.
Religion bruises me, argument tires me, God leads me. Let's keep moving.

The Lesson

I've been criticized and idealized, treasured and turned away, put to work and robbed, paid big and overcharged, de-railed and rampaged, threatened and befriended;

I've been kicked down, pushed out, walked over, passed by, stared at, shouted at, and mocked;

I've been helped, welcomed, spoken with, carried away, lifted out, fed, bathed, laughed with, listened to;

I've been left for lost, left behind, left waiting, left without a goodbye;

I've been picked up, cleaned off, handshook, and shoulder-patted;

Along this road I roam,
I've slept in parks and
slept in homes;
I've gone hungry and
I've dined for free;
been caught in rain and
handed an umbrella.

Why, you might say I'm a lucky fella.

My legs are weary, but
warm hearts are plenty.

Zelda Wonders What I Got

I walked through East Texas, round Longview. The pines were high and my shoulders were low, loaded with the weight of all my things. I set them down, guitar, backpack, and my small bag of food. Exhausted, I prepared to lay a while and catch up on much-needed rest and relaxation, when up ambled Zelda.

Zelda's tall with a shaved head, crooked teeth, those still hanging in her gums, others fallen out by some reason I never asked for.

"What're you doing here?" she questioned in the third degree. I sat fiddling with a stick and she didn't trust me.

"Just getting some rest," I replied, polite as I could given her authoritative demanding manner.

"Where you from?"

I hesitated. It's been so long since I've been from somewhere, I couldn't remember. New Orleans? South Dakota? Thackerville? "Tyler," I told her. That's where I'd slept last, anyway.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked again as she glanced among my things, searching for something. "You on drugs?"

"No."

"You got any marijuana?"

"No."

"Mind if I look through your bags? People like to come out here and do drugs."

"Do they? I don't know anything about that. I'm just walking from Tyler and stopped for some rest and relaxation." I unlatched my jug of water from my side and took a sip.

"I'm just curious. I wanna know."

I looked at Zelda, devil in the eyes. "I look so like I do drugs that you gotta look through my stuff?"

She looked at me back, wicked and straight. "You got a reason I shouldn't?"