It's early in my tent
Still dark outside
The birds tweeting
And from somewhere in the distance
The rumble and horn of a
Mexican freight train
I'm in a town called Venado
Somewhere up in the desert
Not far now from
Legendary Catorce
From the peyote fields and the Huichol -
It's hard to comprehend
I only left San Miguel yesterday
And in the afternoon at that
Took a bus to San Felipe
Dug Hidalgo passing through
Told myself "I love Mexico" many times
And marvelled at brown skinned beauties
Then I'm on the highway
Back on the blessed asphalt
Standing in random desert
Thumb out
Smiling
Ah, it's been a while
The random white man
Even more random this time
Due to his airplane wheely case
But you know what?
It works
Better than backpack
Save for hiking, maybe
And -
Hup! Hup!
A ride within two minutes
A good guy in a pickup
Driving all the way to San Luis Potosí
Chats about seeing England vs Brazil in 1970
Still plays soccer in his sixties
(They have an over-60s league
In SLP
Sixteen teams
Nothing like that in England)
(God, I love Mexico)
Then I have mad times by the periferico
Everybody telling me to go the other way
Nobody stopping
No buses passing
Saved, weirdly, by a taxi driver who's
Only trying to swindle me
Not knowing who he's dealing with
(Mr Frugality, 1997)
And who drops me by the tracks in a weird spot
No longer on the highway
Oh, for a passing train!
To speed me north
Throw the suitcase up there
Shoot y'all a video
Whizzing through the desert
Shouting commentary over roar of thunder
Smile as wide as the tracks
But...
No hay tren
Y no quiero to wait for one
So -
A fully-loaded pickup stops
The nice man in it laughs
Says he'll take me where I need to go
Even though it's the wrong way for him
Even though the front seat's full
Even though it means his retarded brother (there's a wife too)
Will have to jump in the back
And sit on what seems to be
Sewage slop and rotting garbage
In massive buckets -
I can't have that
Can't even do it myself
And anyway
Don't want him going out of his way
So instead we just have a bit of fun
He speaks some English
He makes everything feel good
And on I go
Following the tracks
Somewhere in giant
San Luis Potosi
Back to the road
Back to the roar of traffic
But - by Gad!
The taxi driver has done his job
I get a ride
All the way to where there's a bus
A ten peso bus that
Exits town
Goes way further than I thought
Delivers me right to the junction I need
By some town called Mexquitic
And happy thumbs are once more employed
And soon enough another great guy
Scoops me up
Bounces me down the road
Simplifies his Spanish
And asks me things like:
"What's the most important thing in your life?"
To which I shudder
Wonder if I'm supposed to say "la familia"
But instead talk about
Writing
Good people
Nature
Travel
To which he replies:
"To know oneself"
And I get it
And say
Actually, the most important thing in my life right now
Is to feel my connection with Spirit
And do what it bids me to do
I wonder why I don't say that sort of thing more often
Just as I've been wondering why I generally
Don't let on what I'm actually doing
And pretend I'm doing something else
That's about it
He brings me to this park
And I sleep warm and good
And now it's 7.15
And light
And time to go once more
To about the last place I can think of
And see what's there...
Still dark outside
The birds tweeting
And from somewhere in the distance
The rumble and horn of a
Mexican freight train
I'm in a town called Venado
Somewhere up in the desert
Not far now from
Legendary Catorce
From the peyote fields and the Huichol -
It's hard to comprehend
I only left San Miguel yesterday
And in the afternoon at that
Took a bus to San Felipe
Dug Hidalgo passing through
Told myself "I love Mexico" many times
And marvelled at brown skinned beauties
Then I'm on the highway
Back on the blessed asphalt
Standing in random desert
Thumb out
Smiling
Ah, it's been a while
The random white man
Even more random this time
Due to his airplane wheely case
But you know what?
It works
Better than backpack
Save for hiking, maybe
And -
Hup! Hup!
A ride within two minutes
A good guy in a pickup
Driving all the way to San Luis Potosí
Chats about seeing England vs Brazil in 1970
Still plays soccer in his sixties
(They have an over-60s league
In SLP
Sixteen teams
Nothing like that in England)
(God, I love Mexico)
Then I have mad times by the periferico
Everybody telling me to go the other way
Nobody stopping
No buses passing
Saved, weirdly, by a taxi driver who's
Only trying to swindle me
Not knowing who he's dealing with
(Mr Frugality, 1997)
And who drops me by the tracks in a weird spot
No longer on the highway
Oh, for a passing train!
To speed me north
Throw the suitcase up there
Shoot y'all a video
Whizzing through the desert
Shouting commentary over roar of thunder
Smile as wide as the tracks
But...
No hay tren
Y no quiero to wait for one
So -
A fully-loaded pickup stops
The nice man in it laughs
Says he'll take me where I need to go
Even though it's the wrong way for him
Even though the front seat's full
Even though it means his retarded brother (there's a wife too)
Will have to jump in the back
And sit on what seems to be
Sewage slop and rotting garbage
In massive buckets -
I can't have that
Can't even do it myself
And anyway
Don't want him going out of his way
So instead we just have a bit of fun
He speaks some English
He makes everything feel good
And on I go
Following the tracks
Somewhere in giant
San Luis Potosi
Back to the road
Back to the roar of traffic
But - by Gad!
The taxi driver has done his job
I get a ride
All the way to where there's a bus
A ten peso bus that
Exits town
Goes way further than I thought
Delivers me right to the junction I need
By some town called Mexquitic
And happy thumbs are once more employed
And soon enough another great guy
Scoops me up
Bounces me down the road
Simplifies his Spanish
And asks me things like:
"What's the most important thing in your life?"
To which I shudder
Wonder if I'm supposed to say "la familia"
But instead talk about
Writing
Good people
Nature
Travel
To which he replies:
"To know oneself"
And I get it
And say
Actually, the most important thing in my life right now
Is to feel my connection with Spirit
And do what it bids me to do
I wonder why I don't say that sort of thing more often
Just as I've been wondering why I generally
Don't let on what I'm actually doing
And pretend I'm doing something else
That's about it
He brings me to this park
And I sleep warm and good
And now it's 7.15
And light
And time to go once more
To about the last place I can think of
And see what's there...
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