Love and Revolution

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Love:

"...You know something is happening (here) but you don't know what it is - do you, Mister Jones?" 

 

-- Bob Dylan

I never thought that I would feel like Mr. Jones (and even at the time), but now I wonder.

I have made many assumptions that proved to be inaccurate, some to my great embarrassment at the time, some seen only later, through a glass, dimly (ok, darkly). My understanding of love, the meaning and place of love, the feeling of love, bound by its time, comes back to me now like AM waves reflected by the atmosphere.

There was a time when I assumed that I knew what it meant, that we all knew what it meant, but the meaning eluded and morphed into the summer of love, the Robert Indiana sculpture, the happy face, the I heart NY.

I am turning the pages of the great books and revisiting the great teachings: it is in there somewhere. It is also in the subway car, I know it; I can see the thread dangling before my face. Do I reach for it? 

Dare I, Mister Jones?

On Revolution:

Fire in the Lake: the image of Revolution. (Wilhelm).

Change is believed in on the day it is completed. It is very successful, beneficial if correct. Regret vanishes. (Cleary)

On a cold night in Harvard Square, after a roiling demonstration against the war, I stood in face-off with a law officer: me in my greatcoat, he in his flack jacket, helmet and shield. Many long, tense minutes passed, neither giving ground. Finally, the officer was called back to his comrades to sing God Bless America.

I know what revolution isn’t.

 

 

 

-M.