Shipmates and Cheyenne in General
- Aug. 29, 2022, 8:53 p.m.
- |
- Public
I was watching a video earlier today. It included clips from a FOB in Iraq.
The camera swung around and momentarily centered on a piece of paper on a bulletin board:
I will Always Place the Mission First
I will Never Accept Defeat
I Will Never Quit
I Will Never Leave a Fallen Comrade
That is a mantra I can hear in Mike’s voice.
He lost vastly more shipmates than I did. I called him, got his voice mail. He called back a few hours later. Pouring rain in Pittsburg, he was picking up his son, now a senior in highs school. Told me he would call me back tomorrow.
The weather here has been officially too pretty.
I didn’t want to but I took an hour nap. I am struggling with becoming human again.
Shipmates and Cheyenne became an ear worm.
I have a crazy feeling I am not going to live much longer.
“Adrift in the meadows of time.” But when I go, I’ll go knowing I loved words. Words can’t wrap themselves around me to steal my heat. But they always satisfy.
Shipmates and Cheyenne, raindrops and cryin’
Haunt the dreams of an old, old man
Candles and church bells, laughter and farewells
Revolve in his thoughts like a wind
Stallions and blizzards, steelies and lizards
Adrift in the meadows of time
No sense of progression, of age or direction
No meter, no form, no rhyme
I’ll hold me one
Just one rising sun
Long after daylight is gone
I’ll hold me one
One more rising sun
Till my daylight and darkness is done
Kingdoms and cupboards, losers and lovers
And evenings of blackberry wine
Falling like sand, the memory of hands
And kisses, and whispers and sighs
I’ll hold me one
Just one rising sun
Till long after daylight is gone
I’ll hold me one
One more rising sun
Till my daylight and darkness is done
I’ll hold me one
One rising sun
One more rising sun
Till my daylight and darkness is done
-Joe Henry / John Denver
woman in the moon ⋅ August 29, 2022
He died flying didn't he? Not your kind, but still....
Duke woman in the moon ⋅ August 29, 2022
Died flying his Long EZ right off Monterey. Cascading errors, poor design and inexperience with the aircraft. Deciding to take off without a full bag of gas (you never do that.) Cross controlled himself right into the Pacific.
Jinn ⋅ August 29, 2022
That is a lovely song.
I wonder why you are having the impending doom feeling ?
Duke Jinn ⋅ August 29, 2022 (edited August 29, 2022)
Edited
It is a beautifully haunting song. Joe Henry always did that.
Regarding impending doom - I don't feel right, I'm hoping when I completely come off Vampire shift I'll feel better.
I have a ice pick behind my left eye feeling. I want to think it is just being tired and not sleeping.
But there is a glioblastoma cluster in this part of the world. I really don't want to know. Its a one way tube to a box of ashes going over the side of an aircraft carrier.
Jinn Duke ⋅ August 29, 2022
Go get checked so you won’t have to worry. It’s probably just the combination of lack of sleep, the adrenalin rebound from the interview and trying to adjust your biorhythms again but why stress yourself unnecessarily ? It’s probably time for you to have a check up anyway . You have lots of life ahead of you .
Duke Jinn ⋅ August 29, 2022
In the hours after the interview(s) I started bothering myself. I hadn't been that "on" in years. There is that adage that the bulb always burns brightest before it burns out.
Perhaps I am just being paranoid. Some aspirin (which I'm not supposed to take), some Gatorade and a long day of surfing will reset me. (Note to self: Sunscreen!)
Jinn Duke ⋅ August 30, 2022
You do like pushing the limits :-)
Duke Jinn ⋅ August 30, 2022
It is very subtle, but I think the song is about dying.
"I’ll hold me one
One more rising sun
Till my daylight and darkness is done"
He doesn't say "Till the daylight and darkness is done." He says "Till MY daylight and darkness is done."
Joe henry was a genius with words, and the best unheard John Denver songs were all collaborations. Pedestrian listeners of radio only know JD for "Rocky Mountain High," "Sunshine on My Shoulders," "Take Me Home, Country Roads."
Completely missing gems like "The Eagle and the Hawk," "The Wings That Fly us Home," "Spirit" and "Pegasus."
Jinn Duke ⋅ August 30, 2022
I will have to check those songs out. You are correct, I have not heard them. Probably my favorite Denver song is “ Calypso”. I grew up watching Cousteau :-)
Duke Jinn ⋅ August 30, 2022
Aye Calypso the places you've been to,
The things that you've shown us,
The stories you tell
Aye Calypso, I sing to your spirit,
The men who have served you so long and so well