a decent dream

Yolo County, Sacramento Valley
Light in the winter morning
A gray glow through the tule fog
A fog that sits low across the bottom lands
Hugging the creeks and blanketing the reeds and oleander
A gray sunrise that is just barely kissing the dawn
And the silver sky is low, all is still
An easy light, gentle and  gray
A love, a thought, a hope
And the creeks themselves
Cache Creek and Putah Creek
Dark and cold and fast
Rinsing the earth
Washing away the dust of summer with winter's bath
Like dancers to a wild Spanish mambo
Sisters of the rock and bone of living
The blood veins to the body of the valley
As strong as gods, full of life
And full of death
The valley is a marsh
A garden for herons and waterbirds
A green grocer for any who would tend it, love it
Treat it like a mother or a daughter
The soil made rich and sweet from the centuries spent underwater
When this valley was a great sea
From water to soil to table to stomach
Worked with love
It is winter
It is morning Another fine day in our valley

---

Just how lovely is the sky
Every day

It rises above the farmland

A beautiful backdrop. Even over the graveyard

---

I dreamed I was naked in a strange radio station,

I didn’t know where the music was, and I struggled

To keep music on the air. And Johnny Cash walked in,

Bigger than life. His hair had grown long, 

And he needed a shave. Johnny wore old blue jeans 

And beat-up cowboy boots. Called me James Lee.
“Johnny, you’re dead,” I told him. “That’s no matter,”

He said. “Living and dying are just a part of the wheel.”

He carved some words in my back:

You can run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Run on for a long time
Sooner or later God'll cut you down
Sooner or later God'll cut you down

“It’s not true,” said Johnny, “but it sounds cool.”
“Well, what is true?” I up and asked him that,

Him being dead and all. He began to chant.

Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler
The gambler
The back biter
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down
Tell 'em that God's gonna cut 'em down

I chanted with Johnny Cash as the blood 

Ran down my back. Johnny picked up 

An old time kerosene lamp and dashed it 

Against a wall. Some flames leaped up,

And I helped by sliding a gas can

Over to the flames. What a sight!

We ran out laughing as the building

Was engulfed in fire, me and Johnny Cash.

We stomped the dirt and clapped hands

Singing the next verse of the song.

Well my goodness gracious let me tell you the news
My head's been wet with the midnight dew
I've been down on bended knee talkin' to the man from Galilee
He spoke to me in the voice so sweet
I thought I heard the shuffle of the angel's feet
He called my name and my heart stood still
When he said, "John, go do my will!"

There was a little more, but the dream faded

Somewhat as soon as I woke up. 

Still, Johnny Cash carved words in my back

And we burned down a radio station

And got away with it. That’s not bad,

I think, as dreams go. Don’t you agree?

James Lee Jobe

Johnny Cash - God Will Cut You Down

Of all the words that pour out of our mouths every day, how many of them are really ours, and how many are patched together from others?

Haemin Sunim

Focus, not on the rudenesses of others, not on what they've done or left undone, but on what you have and haven't done yourself.

The Dhammapada

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Thank you!

James