The Ride Poem by John Stetson

Poetic and not lyrical, that's the circle of life and it's not spherical
Round and round and round it goes but the stop is one that no one knows
It's up and down and in and out, self confidence tinged with self doubt
It's fallin' in and fallin' out, line up to see what it's all about
Just to find it's not empirical

Now when I set out to plot life's course, I bet on ev'ry pretty horse
And, of course, they bucked and bridled
Til I found the seat of knowledge, intolerance and college
Was where I could not find it with both hands

So I hit the road and pondered and I jumped up and I wandered
Til I found the winding road leads not into the promised land

I sat down to enjoy a meal of humble pie and cock-eyed crow
Stuck my dampened finger in the air to find an ill wind's bound to blow
And show what we all come to know, that when it comes your time to go
You still won't understand

Whether linear or peripatetic, circumspect or sympathetic
Lyrical and/or poetic, your line is fine if it's kinetic
Stasis is a work of art, but what moves in somebody's heart
Is what it took to make the part that got you where you are

That doesn't mean to rest assured, cause what ailes you is someone's cure
Your vision's clear, the lines are blurred
So strike out boldly undeterred, knowing that it's just a word
That got you where you are

It's not the end that turns the herd, cause what it is often overheard
Is often underwrought
It's overdone and underthought, underwhelming overbought
It did catch on but now it's caught up in its own undoing

Stay true to what you feel is right, cause when it's done what comes to light
Is clear as day and dark as night, that what some might see as insight
Fulsome, handsome, and perchance, some blighted stance
Has fallen down (if not your pants) around your ears and now come in full measure

It's just by chance, pure happenstance, that what has led up to this dance
With luck and bucks and fate's sweet glance is life itself, a sweet romance
You'll find the Seat of Knowledge, alma mater isn't college, it's nothing
But the wisdom, you will soon be finding by the seat of your own pants

And all your yearning for this learning won't stop your life from over turning
Spurning, burning all your bridges, try'n to find your way off ledges
Coloring lines and minding edges trying too hard to enhance
The picture only your mind sees, perspective gained from the seat of those pants

Shakespeare or shakey, chorus or clown, that's the question I ponder as the mind wanders round
Keep appearances up and get the entrances down, lest I find my mind in the lost and found
Still try'n to learn the lines to my part, roman a clef or a la carte
Drama or comedy, poetry, prose, heaven can wait cause the Lord only knows

Too easy clever, too late smart, that's the tale of my time, that's the arc of my art
Masterpiece theater, objet d'art, put it all together while its fallin' apart
Put it all together, take it all back apart
Shoe leather and weather takes you back to the start

What's in store is where you find it, some turns you see and some are blind
It's not that life is so unkind, it's just what you decide to mind
So set your mind to be inclined, to just accept life as you find it
Make the best of all your time and just… enjoy… the… ride