Hawthorn Chorus Line

I posed what I thought was a rhetorical request on yesterday's blip, but I've had a very literal and literate response from Kendall in the form of two sonnets. She's taken my fumbling prose and turned it into the most beautiful poetry. I don't really recognise myself as this 'perfect machine', for rust and general wear and tear have taken their toll over the years, but I guess there are still moments when everything purrs along pretty well. Kendall has reminded my why I cherish those moments so much - and why I continue to do the training I do. The rewards are priceless.

Here is her poem:

Riding with Earthdreamer:

At the heart of my heart is a white bird
contracting and releasing elegant wings
in a flawed chamber. No rest, no nap,
no pause from the womb to the last breath,
it flaps on, filled with commitment
to do what it does for as long as it can,
despite the deficiencies. This bird
has its own will and so if I run, ride
a bike, or swim, a clamp, a cramp
takes my chest, my brain telegraphs panic,
a knife cleaves my side and nausea stops me.
This bird has its way of keeping on, we are
co-dependent, symbiotic, and so, great luck,
we are still here, after sixty-six years, no rest.

Across the planet a man who calls himself
Earthdreamer embodies a perfect machine.
When he runs, his body warms to it, muscles
swell, sinews expand, endorphins flood his brain
with pleasure, and the bird in his heart
sings full-throated arias as a sinuous thread
of tarmac unspools beneath him. Five hours
in the saddle is a symphony, the rhythm
of man on machine, no going back, into the wind
over the dales, committed, free, grinning into
his own perfection and the way his body warms.
He rides for me on this impermanent day, he rides
for all of us with flawed parts, he rejoices in the
temporary pleasure of the body alive and singing.


I'm lost for words in response ... but thank you Kendall.


It's always a challenge to get a decent blip on a long working day and when the only time outside is a cycle in under a very flat and dull white sky. The clouds cleared late afternoon, but I was in a meeting so the opportunity to catch some good light was lost. But in a way this shot works quite well today. Three hawthorns doing what they do best: simply being hawthorns! I was immediately drawn to the way they mirror each other in form. It looked so like they were doing a dance routine. I wish I had the ability to animate them!

About to cycle home now. I shall be riding with Kendall on my handlebars! Apologies if it's not a swift and totally flowing experience. My legs are stuffed!!