Wandering the Crossing Minds

Locked in mortal combat as the future shadows loom
The guardian of my spirit fights his way across the room
To where the sick majority infest the myths of doom
But the lanterns of children hold firm in full bloom

And we'll walk a long long way
Oh, together.
Though we found ourselves that way
Long before we knew.
But you know the way it's worked I feel that
when I fly it's with your soul.
And when I cry....

I ride inside the purple dawn collecting golden dew
That falls from citadels of dreams I shake while flying through
Creation's key seems just in reach, ah but then it's overdue
But as darkness surrounds us I'm reaching for you.

And we'll walk a long long way
Oh, together.
Though we found ourselves that way
Long before we knew.
But you know the way it's worked I feel that
when I fly it's with your soul.
And when I cry....

Far across the universe the goblins of the night
Sometimes corner sunrise and keep it out of sight
Wandering the crossing minds, hallucinating light
Is the dream that I have of you holding me tight.

And we'll walk a long long way
Oh, together.
Though we found ourselves that way
Long before we knew.
But you know the way it's worked I feel that
when I fly it's with your soul.
And when I cry... it's you.

-Roy Harper

I first heard this song on the radio about 11:30pm on New Year's Eve night, 1975. I was with many new friends, including John Brady, David Gage, and Kim Braitenback. I don't remember who's house we were at, somewhere in Burbank, we all sat on the floor in the front room. The radio played the last 3 cuts in a row from the Roy Harper album "HQ". Then they played some insanity from Ivor Cutler's "Life in a Scotch Sitting Room". I can remember the table lamp's light on the wall behind my friends' silhouettes. I can almost touch the pale blue-grey of the wall under the lamp's hallucinating light.

When I fly it's with your soul, and when I cry it's you.

Goodbye 1975. Goodbye 2009. Rest in peace.