This is from a Japanese artist whose website is www.yuzuriha.com. While most of the art is a lot cuter than what I tend to like there are quite a few bits of bike art with randonneur and touring style bicycles. I liked this image because it reminded me of all the lunch breaks I took on my last tour from Kyoto to Tottori.
Anyways, I picked it to illustrate a poem I found off of the iBOB list that I thought appropriate to share as inspiration for the new year.
The Best Road of All
By Charles Hanson Towne, 1949
I like a road that leads away to prospects white and fair,
A road that is an ordered road, like a nun’s evening prayer;
But best of all I love a road that leads to God knows where.
You come upon it suddenly – - you cannot seek it out;
It’s like a secret still unheard and never noised about;
But when you see it, gone at once is every lurking doubt.
It winds beside some rushing stream where aspens lightly quiver;
It follows many a broken field by many a shining river;
It seems to lead you on and on, forever and forever!
You ride along its dusty way beneath the shadowy trees,
And hear beside you chattering birds or happy booming bees,
And all around you golden sounds, the green leaves’ litanies.
And here’s a hedge and there’s a cot; and then, strange, sudden turns -
A dip, a rise, a little glimpse where the red sunset burns;
A bit of sky at evening time, the scent of hidden ferns.
A winding road, a loitering road, the finger mark of God,
Traced when the Maker of the world leaned over ways untrod,
See! Here He smiled His glowing smile, and lo, the goldenrod!
I like a road that wanders straight; the King’s highway is fair,
And lovely are the sheltered lanes that take you here and there;
But best of all I love a road that leads to God knows where.
Browse Timeline
Comments ( 2 )
Have you ever seen the Broken Spoke by Edward Gorey? He’s my favorite artist, and the Broken Spoke is a collection of postcards involving bicycles. I bet you’d like it. It’s found in his collection Amphigorey Also. Which also includes the Epipletic Bicycle – another bike themed work.
Jessica added these pithy words on
Jan 22 09 at
8:23 pm
I haven’t heard of it, but I do like Edward Gorey. I’ll be sure to check it out whenever it is I get to a place with an English bookstore. Thanks for the heads up!
Jon added these pithy words on
Jan 22 09 at
8:28 pm
