"son", he said, "i've come to take you home . . ."

part of my ride 'round lake ontario

is to honour the existence of my father

who through my mother sponsored me on my ride.

he had such great expectations of me as a younger person that he was fearful of the outcome. so fearful that he missed many of the little successes. happily, as he grew both inside and outside of himself, he came to know that success is a transitory thing and that much of this place is really about learning how to be.

to really and fully be.

i think about him and his life.

when my dad flew away i thought a lot

about his time in the south of england.

he and i were both born of the north.

he further north than me.

the south was a strange place.

civilized in ways we each knew about

maybe even embraced in our separate and secret lives

both framed in earthly ambitions.

it was a trip to dorset in my late twenties

to visit wimborne minster

that brought me face-to-face

with an element of the south

that i knew something of

but hadn't taken in

there's a depth

of historical presence

spiritual presence

apres vu

let alone deja vu

describes my experiencing

of walking through wessex

so salisbury figured largely

in my thinking on my father's

trajectory

by coincidence i played

peter gabriel's song

solsbury hill

quite a bit around the flying away

of my father

and kyte's version inserted itself

into that big moment

here 'tis

kyte solsbury hill