Digging deep into my past to pull out an incident recorded in my memoir. It happened this time of year while I was living in Ann Arbor, 1968… I was walking home after a party where I’d dropped acid during the festivities. The rush was over, and I was in the melow stage, and all colors were intensified, like painted on a black velvet canvas, on my way down, heading for sleep…; -)

The Black Knight

It was a crisp, early fall, late evening; and the very air seemed alive, crackling with energy, shimmering in the street-lights’ dim glow, where the colors of trees, bushes, and parked cars were rich and deep on the deserted street, with golden highlights on everything… I was witnessing Shiva’s Dance.

Then it rumbled in the distance, like thunder, then lightning… louder now, I could see the glow of it’s fiery breath in the trees… As I turned toward the growing roar, it rose from the road like a rearing warhorse, clad in black and chrome armor, closing the distance between us in a couple of heartbeats, and lighting the underside of overhanging trees as it raged.

It was barely twenty yards away when I saw them, mounted on its back… the Black Knight in black leather, with a red bandanna tied around his forehead, reigning in his wild, windblown hair, as he held that mighty beast almost vertical. And arms around his waist, clinging tightly was Elspeth, or Rapunzel, her long golden braid trailing out over her shawl of white lace.

As they passed, they both smiled, and that smile seemed to glow, moon-like in the dark. I quickly turned to watch as they flew by, wondering when the Black Knight would finally let that steed drop back to the pavement… But all I could see was the fire of its rage and the lightning in the trees, until the fire and the roar finally disappeared in the distant night.

It was a crisp, early fall, late evening; and the very air seemed alive, crackling with energy…

–LE

PS: Ghostrider is not really the image I had in mind, but beggers can’t be choosers, as my mother used to say…; -)