Born Ruffians - "The Ballad of Moose Bruce"

My downstairs neighbour is a gaunt old man. When I first moved in I called him "John Updike's skeleton" to myself and to whoever I saw that day. He's in that stage of life where retirement is a memory, and now the days are methodically stacked with routine and inaction, and immobility or vanity or poverty or whatever else is keeping him from leaving the house very much. I've seen young women come out of there late at night, who look both directions, and walk to the street and hail a cab. He maintains the small patch of grass in front of the apartment meticulously well. I sometimes wonder if he represents someone I will become. In the winter he shovels right down to the grass. And in his window there is a sign. It has removable letters, and in the winter it will say things like: "la neige qui tombe!" or something like that. I think recently it said "le printemps, c'est ca". You know, normal stuff. But today, I was unlocking my bike, and putting in my headphones (a bad habit, I know) and I looked at his window, where I could see him sitting in the dark, in the day, behind his sign. The sign read: "un accident peut m'arriver".

And this is true, an accident could befall any of us at any moment. And with each passing moment there are these horses, racing against each other, to the finish lines of our lives. The best time you made love, the best book you read, the most you ever felt like hitting someone with your fist. These records are silently galloping, unseen and unbroken, towards claiming the victory they feel they deserve, that is most, best, highest, and only. The best song you've ever heard. The best first time hearing a song. The biggest emotional wellspring, the biggest leap of your heart, the most you almost fell off your bike with awe, with a gasp. It's dangerous to claim something is the most, the highest, the best, because there is always the chance, the chance that something will beat it, and you'll look a fool. But the chances of it being beat are just as high as the chances that you'll die before it isn't. And it remains unbroken. Still the best. [Pre-Order]

(image titled "Moog & the Bull" from My Parents Were Awesome)