The hot coffee from the thick porcelain cup, which had a chip out of the handle, steamed his still unshaven face.”
–Stephen Bly (It’s Your Misfortune)
Mornin’, I took advantage of my age and my retirement and decided to sleep in this mornin’. Hope I didn’t keep yuh waitin’ too long; I’ll have the coffee a-perkin’ before yuh know it. Whist yur a-waitin’ let me sing to yuh, well maybe not sing, this little ditty I found.
An ode to coffee… Black.
Leave the sugar on the rack.
Leave the cream in the cow.
This coffee… It beckons to me:
Drink me the way I was meant to be.
Sorta catchy, ain’t it? Now tell me yur woes, and I’ll fetch the coffee.
Yuh know, Pard, things jist ain’t the same no more. With all the foolishness that abounds it’s hard to find any common sense, an’ then yuh add to that anything more than mediocre is hard to be a findin’ nowadays. It seems like we’ve become obsessed with gadgets so we don’t have to be doin’ no thinkin’ our ownselves.
No, I hear the perkin’, I won’t let the coffee boil over onto the stove top. But these gadgets, let me tell yuh. My daughter bought a new steel mount, it rides real nice let me tell first off, but it is full of them gadgets, beepin’, pingin’, buzzin’, dingin’ and dongin’. Why there’s something goin’ on all the time, this ol’ fence post couldn’t even get my philosophyzing done on the trip. Why, Pard, I even heard tell that there’s vehicles out there now that drive themselves, and park themselves.
Here yuh go, steamin’ hot, black as the darkest night, and stronger than an ol’ mule’s shoe. Take a sip, drink it down real slow, and it’ll calm those woes yur a-carryin’. Ahhhh, glad I decided to get up… But back to what I was sayin’, I’m a-thinkin’ that those new fangled gadget keep us from thinkin’ real hard. Why a person don’t need to remember nothin’ no more, just push a button on some sort of gadget and the answer comes up. And as fer as drivin’ itself folks are already a-doin’ that with the Lord. They don’t need Him as long as they can hear a ding, or feel a buzz, or ask that crazy woman Alexa, or simply put ol’ Google. Why need the Lord, man has provided all that we’re a-needin’. All except a clean heart. And let me tell yuh, Pard, ain’t no artificial intelligence can do that. Nosiree, only the blood of Jesus can bring salvation.
Yuh be havin’ yurself a good day. I’m slowly gettin’ back into some kind of routine. It may still take a while. In the meantime, yuh be checkin’ yur cinch when yuh mount, don’t be lettin’ anyone put a ding-dong on yur saddle to remind yuh.
Vaya con Dios.