Till I Get Her Off My Mind
With the choppers engine
Roaring beneath my seat and
Black diamond tank
My feet rest on cruise pegs
Of chromed railroad spikes
As I soar like an eagle
Over the next hill and
Around the bend
Of this mountain road
With the wind in my face
I’ll continue this fated ride
With tattooed tears
Till I get her off my mind
White water rapids
Chase me from below
The mighty waters roar
Singing in unison
With the voice of my pipes
A song that carries me
Through these forest shadows
Of redwood and pine
Criss-crossing my paved path
With the wind in my face
I’ll continue this fated ride
With tattooed tears
Till I get her off my mind
Sleeping bag rolled tight
Strapped to the rear
Will be my bed where I lay
On a hard stony bank
Where I’ll drink through the night
Watching snow caps white
Under a million tiny stars
And a dying fire light
Till I wake to the calling open road
With the wind in my face
I’ll continue this fated ride
With tattooed tears
Till I get her off my mind
This canyon road
Seems to travel on
And forever more
And though the chasm
Whispers my name
And my wheels inch ever closer
I hold my course
Over ever climbing rise
And down into green valleys
With the wind in my face
I’ll continue this fated ride
With tattooed tears
Till I get her off my mind
As yellow lines blur
On this dark sable night
I close my eyes
And click off the light
Letting go handle-bars
I raise my hands
But hold tight with my legs
As my bike leaves this land
And I near my journeys end
With the wind in my face
I’ll continue this fated ride
With tattooed tears
Till I get her off my mind
Comments
Whoa! Excellent!
Voted up and everything but funny.
Don't do it Wayne, we need you! This was very sad and beautiful. Your wonderful descriptions took me on a ride with you, but I was nervous all the while, afraid of what you might do. Some tattoos just won't go way no matter how long the ride, but you must learn to embrace them!
Impressed as always!
Cat
very nice! voted up and beautiful.
Oh, my goodness, WOW!!! Awesome, Wayne!!! This write is brilliant . . . "with tattooed tears" . . . really superb piece. My sister loves to ride a Harley, and so I shall make her aware of this to read no doubt!
Voted up +++ and sharing
I can hear those pipes now, Faith Reaper
It's beautiful, I love the poem. The imagery is very vivid, but I don't like the end.
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Will. thank you very much for the visit, Sir!
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Thank you Cat. And don't worry; I've already wrecked that old chopper a long time ago and still here to talk about it.
The journey draws you in; tragic and romantic with a very powerful refrain. ~Lurana
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Michael, thank you very much!
Wayne, I miss riding and being in the wind. I was saddened by the ending of this poem. No one is worth taking your own life.
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Good morning Faith, and thank you for the nice words and the share!
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Thank you for the visit, Sherry!
Wayne,
I love this poem. I do not own a motorcycle, but at one time had a Mustang convertible. I can remember some very late nights driving down roads with the top down trying so hard to ease my broken heart.
Nicely done! With the refrain and rhythm you created, I could so hear the song.
Best Always,
Kim
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Thank you Lurana. I appreciate the visit.
This poem of yours has inspired me! Hmm. . .
I have never owned a bike, but this just makes me want to hit the open road and feel the wind in my face...thanks for taking us on this journey Wayne:-))
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Thank you Sha. I agree with you. I just wanted to portray the emotions of an individual in this condition.
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Thank you Kim. I'm sure that there are many of us who have had to ride out that broken heart.
In my biking days Wayne I believe I broke a few hearts including mine. But somehow the freedom of the ride, the air in my face, the parks along the lonely highways and camping out always seemed to mend them for me. Wonderful poem my biker friend, although mine are over, I sure as hell enjoyed my suicide bars. lol Voted up and shared.
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Thank you Valleypoet. My riding days are over, but I will always cherish the memories of those rides.
Gosh darn Sir Wayne that is a title to die for and to have your favorite girl between your legs is a biker's cream, I mean, dream, lol.
Love your eclectic style - I never know what to expect from you.
Are you dat guy who wrote the biker anthem - Teddy Bear's picnic, lol , just kidding, no the one for Steppenwolf - Magic Carpet Ride or Born to be Wayne , oh god , 24 hours in your boots would make a man out of little Epi, lol, and about time too.
Sending you a high five from Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson and Sonny Barger and Hunter S. Thompson and me.
Very exciting Wayne, don't you dare go anywhere. This one must be voted up. Thank you for sharing.
Great poem, who says poetry can't be bad ass- not this guy! Awesome work.
-LV
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Thank you, Vincent. Mine are over as well, but I have some great memories. And I can still feel that wind blowing in my face!
mmmmm...i adore a diamond tank and cruising pegs! I miss my baby, a girlie harley which i lovingly customized! mmmmmmm....
must admit - never used it to forget a girl...lol
love ya wayne!
keep the rubber on the road!
sharing
Surely the hallmark of a great poet is the ability to portray something the reader has never experienced so that she feels as if she was experiencing it in reading it; and to portray something she has experienced so that she experiences it from an entirely different perspective.
I've never ridden a motorcycle. I didn't even ride a bicycle, though the feeling of wind in my face, I did love and experience swinging as high as possible for as long as possible, which I loved it as a kid and still do even now. I've experienced camping and canyons. I've experienced amazing stars in the clear night sky - covering the desert, not snow-capped mountains.
Of course, you've used that imagery to express and illustrate the feelings of yearning, disappointment and near-desperation, which I've experienced; but yours provides a whole-new perspective on it all.
It's a beautiful, masterful piece of poetry, Wayne. It flows like molten glass over crags and yawning chasms to bring us to an inevitable conclusion we've surmised, but don't wish to see arrive. The refrain gives it its heart-beat, to be surrounded & stopped in that last fateful verse, so musical and compelling, that it almost makes the final implication seem OK somehow.
Then I awake to be glad it was only a tragic dream! You survived it!! Yea!!
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And a good gosh golly good morning to you Sir Colin! Lol!
You have such a way of making people feel good with your witty and kind compliments. I think the nicest thing you said is that I have an eclectic style, because that is what I pride myself in. I could not imagine being stuck in a single minded rut, (commonly called 'a niche').
Like a certain poet that I follow of late known as, The epicolinator of the great white north, who himself strays from the path of the norm in his muse, I prefer to travel off the beaten path. Hey, sometimes you stumble across a natural hot spring full of babes, and sometimes you step in bear shit, but either way you take home a new experience!
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Tom, as always, I appreciate your kind thoughts and the support. Thank you my Irish friend! : )
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LVidoni, thank you for that bad ass compliment : )
....I think I'd better take the 'bear shit' this time because the last time I was in a hot spring of babes I came down with 'wink wink' ..... something that needed a cure from anti-biotics, lol.
Have a great Sunday with your family . I watched the daybreak and then the sunrise over the lake with my two cats this morning.
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Leslie, you on a customized chopper; now that would be a sight to see! I can just see the wind blowing through your hair. By the way, I used to have hair like yours in the 70's and was going to use that line, but instead I had to use, 'wind in my face', because now that I am buzzed, I would have had to say, 'wind in my stubble', and I'm just not sure how that would have played! hmm, would my goatee count? : )
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Thank you Dear Nellieanna. I am so glad I could give you the experience of a ride through the canyons and forests. It truly is a unique feeling...a feeling that has left memorable impressions on my soul that I will never forget.
I appreciate so much your visit and the kindness that you always leave behind. Blessings to you and yours!
My great pleasure, Wayne! Hugs!
I really liked this.
Your poem caught all the freedom, wind in your face and stretching endless road when on a motorbike. Your imagery made it a really visual journey on reading it.
However, it was also mingling with such pain and a shocking, sad end.
Excellent.
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Thank you Anna.
wayne barrett this was rip-roaring and explosively good.. loved it bro :)
Voted up and awesome. Well nice song ready to be set to music.
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Thank you for stopping by Frank! Always appreciate your compliments my friend!
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Thank you Rasma.
This would be incredible set to music, as I am sure that there are plenty of people that can and will identify with these words. Great work! Awesome and up for the way a downtrodden and forgotten soul thinks.
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Thank you Deb. I appreciate the compliment.
Its funny how a long journey can help you get over things. I remember walking 20 miles in 12 inches of snow when my heart was broken once.
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That's the truth Jose!
great poetry W#ayne.. love the topic and the form ..!
Wonderful write Wayne!
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Thank you cleaner!
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Thank you very much Audrey!
Let me know when you finally get her off your mind. And so shall I. Enjoyed the read, great imagery. (Ps, sorry I just now followed you back.... ;)still working out the kinks in my hub-ability )
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Thank's for the visit Daniel, and I appreciate the follow.
Incredible ride, Wayne! Masterful and powerful read!
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Word from my editor. : )
Alexandra, I am happy to see you here. thank you for the lovely compliments.
I'll read more my friend when I have more free time in my life, count on it.
A powerful, thrilling poem. My heart kept beating faster as I read your poem. Great write.
Very nicely done Wayne. I tend not to care for poems with a refrain or repeating verse, but I really liked this. Your descriptive imagery is taut and convincing. Good work. Theresa
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Thank you Vellur. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
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Thank you, Theresa.
Wow! This nearly had me on the edge of my seat. Kind of like it picked up pace as I kept reading and the refrain seemed to urge it on even more. Very dramatic.
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Thank you Shanmarie. I appreciate the compliment.
I thought this was wonderful, Wayne. And the entire time that I was reading it I kept thinking that it would make one helluva song.
Wayne, had to come over and read your stuff! loved the biker poem! ........owning a few harleys in my day this one did me good! voted up....and a new follower!
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Thank you Marlin.
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Hey there, Wayne. I appreciate the compliment.
I loved this. You're so very talented.
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Thank you for the kind compliment Beth.
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