Unbridled

This piece is inspired by a long-time friend, and former business partner. Barry was healthy and athletic through high school and college, and later an excellent graphic artist. Now he’s relegated by MS to the confines of an electric wheel chair. He loved to dance and enjoyed my band in younger years. He has never let the chair stop him. Though he doesn’t walk now, and has lost the effective use of the left side of his body (he is/was left handed) he has never stopped smiling or going to watch live music performed. He has become a superb photographer, learning to master the right side of his body. He also still loves hot rods, a passion he and I share. Barry is now 73, still going strong. This is for you my buddy.

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Unbridled

“Dedicated with love & respect to my forever friend, Barry!”

~

that is unquestionably joy
in a most unexpected place
in the eyes of a battled warrior
cruel society deems disabled

bent and stooped
by fate – struck down
confined to his rolling metal chair

his gentle eyes still reflect a wonder
by my soul sometimes misplaced
by my self-pity displaced

his timeless spirit knows only belief
it pours forth from his being

his person full alive
his essence full aware
wholly in the now

positioned close to the modest stage
he is enraptured by the rhythm
enthralled by the magic
captured by his lens

the band plays fast
the band plays slow
the band plays loud
the band plays low

he is filled with every note
every beat
every nuance

he rocks
and rolls
and snaps snaps snaps

he experiences an ecstasy
which I watch with marvel

its purity and power
I am challenged to equal

I now realize
just how much
I do not understand
about struggle
about pride
as I behold this able man

faint envy stirs
as I witness his unbridled joy

so complete
and unpretentious

~ ~ ~

rob kistner © 2019

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Barry, with beloved hot rod.


Click below to read more poems at dVerse:

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Photogtaper Barry, with wife Roz, and some of his “one-handed” work.

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Hi! I’m Edgrrr, rob’s shih tzu.

42 thoughts on “Unbridled”

  1. often when one thing is taken others become more bountiful … you can re-establish that fervent joy 🙂

    1. Thank you Linda. We were two Alphas buttong heads when we first met. Then we figured out we were deducated to integrity and tenacity – and we have been close friends ever since. Even the 2,300 miles berween us now has not dimmed the friendship.

  2. Hugs and kudos for this endearing tribute to Barry. Ironically, some of your deepest insight comes from your personal experience with your own disability. I second that while experiencing my own. I have spent the last couple of years letting go of things I used to do; ,driving is the latest. I still have poetry and photography to provide joy in my life. It is good that you and I have inexorable creativity and behemoth imaginations to buoy us up, and transport us to beautiful places.

    1. Thank you Glenn. He lost his mobility quite a while before I did, but his chair has slways been invisible to me because his spirit obliterates it! Now that we each are coping with our individual challenges, there is an even deeper kindred spirit, snd solid respect.

  3. I can imagine you and Barry had fun in your school years. You and Barry are blessed to have forever friends in each other. It’s an unanswerable question as to whose spirits will stay strong and whose will crumble. You two old dogs are still going strong. Barry’s a great photographer! I think I like that last one best, but they are all fabulous.

    1. We are fightes and it is not in our spirits to retreat from life Jade. We were both competitive alphas when we first met. The competition evolved to respect, and the respect to love. I love his work. He has an incredible eye for composition, lighting, and perspective – so his still lifes are full of feeling, full of soul – poetic, even though he is not a writer. He also reads the emotions well in his human subjects, and captures it brilliantly.

  4. I love the energy still left… and how to enjoy your life to the full. That snap, snap, snap really said so much.

    1. Thank you BjörnI The times I have been with Barry watching a band. Or a sporting event, there are moments when all you hear is snap, snap ,snap… and he captures extraordinary images.

    1. Thank you Frank! My faint envy is that he always seems to find life uplifting, even though he could, for so many good reasons, have given up. I sometimes don’t feel quite as strong as Barry attitude wise, so that’s what I mean. Lovingly envious… 🙂

  5. Very inspiring to read and a wonderful tribute to your friend. I admire that his will to really enjoy life to the fullest remains unabated.

  6. This is such a wonderful personal heartfelt tribute to your friend. His Photos are fabulous. He reminds us as Grace said in her poem that there is more to life that just our shell! Well done my friend!

  7. Thank you for sharing this! I really enjoyed it, especially the lines about the band/live music experience, and these:
    his gentle eyes still reflect a wonder
    by my soul sometimes misplaced
    by my self-pity displaced
    his timeless spirit knows only belief

    as I behold this able man

  8. Sorry for the late response–I’m behind on everything right now! Rob, this is a lovely tribute to your friend. I think you are both fortunate to have each other. Barry’s photography is beautiful.

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