The vinyl LP of "Back Here on Earth" has a beautiful poem on the back cover.
"I see myself as a child still eager to learn
but loath to accept what passes for reason.
I see my fellow man as a creature of infinite grace bound by natural law to create yet controlled by his own creations.
I see the wild beast of the forest as nature's offspring, surrounded by mysterious beauty,
seeking comfort at the breast of Mother Earth.
Violent yet innocent, living upon the remains of the weaker animals which he has stalked and killed.
I see the poet as a word prophet, a dealer in songs and phrases, of whistful melodies and subtle warnings.
Passing his nights in loneliness, tormented by blank pages which cry out with dying breath to be filled with the secrets of his heart.
I see him standing thin and ragged in the doorway of his emporium, facing east across the busy marketplace.
Past the teaming crowds, across the blazing continent to the mountains beyond, to where the morning sun shoots arrows of energy at the hollows of his sleepless eyes.
I see him walking quietly unnoticed through the ghettos of our cities, across the rolling countryside beside the swollen rivers of springtime.
Along traintracks and highways I see him taking his rest at truckstops and sleazy hotels, in worksheds and warehouses, loading docks and shipyards, and cabins upon mountainsides.
I watch him plunge headlong into a river turned red with the blood of slain armies, beside battlefields where pride outweighed the value of life itself.
I see him walking naked through busy uptown streets filled with people at Christmas time. A sign about his neck, upon which he has pasted for all to see in bold type his life's work and epic poem, conceived by his longing and filled with the perception of humanity which the busy crowds ignore as the wind ignore the trees.
The one word - PLEASE"
Poet, singer/songwriter, troubador - however you want to describe Mr. Lightfoot, he is the consummate wordsmith.
|