Hello loved ones,
The sun shines on our cobbled street in Oslo as I write this. People sit outside on bar terraces and turn their heads up towards the light and warmth. Spring doesn’t melt away all of life’s problems, but it is harder to take them so seriously when winter has lost its grip on the world.
Here is a poem called Ode to the city bike. It’s one of my favourite poems to perform in my musical cabaret ‘Love Story’. When I recite this poem for my beloved audiences (I adore every one of you who shows up at my shows), I feel the wind in my face and hold the image of the mountain I was cycling around when I wrote this poem a few years ago. I was falling head over heels in love with poetry at that time; it is a love that still hasn’t left me.
Ready? Sound on! Remember to keep on riding through life’s difficulties & to “maintain balance, motion over doubt”.
Ode to the city bike
We cycle through the twilight settled streets
And laugh at blurry faces on our way
Like ships we sail, soft, through the summer heat
And gentle lights take flight along the bay
The drunken men have hardly chance to see
How, out of focus, we roll like ripe fruit
And with my chest spread eager, neck stretched long
A queen on throne of steel, she leads the fleets
Of pedal pushers pacing, folks aloof
To racing hearts, gods bless this happy throng
I whistle fast aside my cycling king
I don't recall a time I felt so free
Who knew that late night riding was the thing
We needed to remember how to see
That worlds whirl by, but we roll together
You're glittering, twisted, how you lift me out
From darkness, you showed me that life has wheels,
To ride's the richest part of life's endeavour
To maintain motion, balance over doubt
Too fast for heavy thoughts I start to feel
If I could freeze an idea, I would print
A picture of this city, from a bike
When hoop to steady hoop our paths are twinned
I cannot help but think that we are right
Where we should be, meant not to tread these streets
Supposed to fly through squares, we circle on
Birds, given space to try, can spread their wings
Let lovers glide, permit us our own speed!
Though this life is short, the memory will live long
Of how, when we were young, dusk
Kissed
our
skins
