we were touring – engine roaring – through the mountains, got too high
‘fore he leaned low, cranked the throttle, tapped through gears, and let’er fly
caught off ballance, tried to warn him, couldn’t hear me if he tried
he’d made his choice (thoughtless… easy…) and, despite me, he’d made mine

I struggled… hated… panicked…! herd his voice inside my head
“you think too much”… “don’t worry!”… well, just look where that’d lead!
no arrangements… chances… changes… time for words we’d leave unsaid
would he think his ‘fun’ was worth it if we crashed and wound up dead?

just kept thinking, heart… mind racing…! had to get my shit tied on!
unrav’led threads of thought, until the ‘ties’ were all undone
then, the future… past… attachments… meant jack-shit and I was calm
and breathed… lived in the moment… as I’ve only seldom done

cars were blurring, wind was gusting, but I caught the rush of green
as though I’d been asleep, I woke up to a pastoral scene
bright sun bobbing, Earth folds rolling, black-top ribbons, lakes… serene
a ring of hawks above us that, ’till then, had gone unseen

arrow beaked, on knife edged wings, one swooped low, checking our bike
artless…simple… ballanced… how I wished we were alike!
on a whim – to be like him – I spread my arms out like a kite
and something ‘clicked’, ironic’ly, I fin’ly got it right!

heart exploding… mojo flowing… hawk, bike, man, and me in time
now fearless like the bird, I rode hard down the centre line
then pacing… racing… tilting… it soared off to join its kind
but left me with a gift – a sort of twisted peace of mind

so that later in a roadside bar, with cold beers in our hands
I could laugh about the ride… the hawk… and thank my lover-man
see, though my weed-baked Buddha’d prob’ly never understand
I did… and for that moment, chose to smile and hold his hand