Alas , it is only now , after posting excerpts from four chapters , that I’ve written this prologue .
Five years previous to Dave , Chris , Buzz and Dales sailing trip from the Great Lakes of Michigan to the Bahamas , Chris’ mother dies – he is only 14 years old . After reading his journal , I hear his mother calling out like a planetary song , to her beloved son from eternities realm thru these passionate lyrics of Bob Dylan’s . Dale and Chris drown together in Florida , five months into their dreams . Beatitude Point is the adventure story of four young men , friends , crew mates , united with the gleam of innocence still wet on their brow in the tumultuous year of 1972 , united strong on a journey still continuing over the galactic mysteries of the vast and mighty sea .
A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall – Bob Dylan
Oh , where have you been , my blue-eyed son ?
And where have you been my darling young one ?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it’s hard , it’s hard , it’s a hard , and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rains a-gonna fall .
Oh , what did you see my blue eyed son ?
And what did you see my darling young one ?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway with diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept dripping
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it’s hard , it’s a hard , it’s a hard , and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rains a-gonna fall .
And what did you hear my blue-eyed son ?
And what did you hear my darling young one ?
I heard the sound of the thunder that roared out a warnin’
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’
I heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’
I heard one person starve , I heard many people laughin’
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
Heard the sound of a clown who died in the alley
And it’s hard , it’s a hard , it’s a hard , and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rains a-gonna fall .
Oh what did you meet my blue-eyed son ?
Who did you meet my darling young one ?
I met a young child beside a dead pony
I met a white man who walked a black dog
I met a young woman whose body was burning
I met a young girl , she gave me a rainbow
I met one man who was wounded in love
I met another man who was wounded in hatred
And it’s a hard , it’s a hard , it’s a hard , and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rains a-gonna fall .
And what’ll you do now , my blue-eyed son ?
And what’ll you do now , my darling young one ?
I’m a-goin’ back out before the rain starts a-fallin
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are a-many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
And the executioners face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly , where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color , where none is the number
And I’ll tell and speak it and think it and breath it
And reflect from the mountains so all souls can see it
And I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin
But I’ll know my song well before I start singing
And it’s a hard , it’s a hard , it’s a hard , and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rains a-gonna fall .
Dedicating in loving memory to Dale and Chris … Whose youth is their final episode .
Painting by William Bouguereau … ” Pieta ”
Photos by Aela Labbe Photography
