Sidecar Serendipity

Motorcycle dreams: past, present and future...

I got to see the
light of a smile
upon the face
of a 79 year old child

An inquisitive child
who once rode a bike
from Asia to Europe
in a simpler time

Who upon returning
to grown up ways
and grown up manners
still managed to dream

To the settling of roots
and raising kin
to begin a life by the sea
devoted to its inhabitants

The man of a long gone
Honda 250 and the miles
of India, Pakistan,
Iran and Iraq

Held out hope
for another dream
another run upon
another motorbike

From here to there
from tip to tip
accompanied by a
heartbeat from a sidecar

To share along the way
the sights and sounds
the cultures of this orb
a time that got away from

The settling of roots
and raising kin
to begin a life by the sea
to serve creatures of the deeps

A glimmer of that dream
peaks out upon
the retelling of the time
blood coursing, mind racing

One morning by the sea
as happenstance saw fit
a sidecar from the Urals
saw fit to cross his path

In he jumped and off he rode
along the sea so dear
a few blocks going
a few blocks coming

It's never the destination
you often hear them say
it's all about the journey
of the road or of the mind

A five minute ride
traversed five thousand miles
across some fifty years
to dance with a dream

I stood grinning at the end
of his journey
for I had heard the lore
wanting to make it mine

My dreams are lesser
As I have no great travels
to reminisce or contemplate
My journey is made of moments such as these

I got to see the
light of a smile
upon the face
of a 79 year old child

With a hug and a promise
I let him go 'til later in the week
With shared smiles and the knowledge
that dreams can always come true


— Mark Butkus