Stumbling on the side of twelve misty mountains

Bob Dylan's song A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall has been in the news this week. Patti Smith sang it for him at the Nobel prize ceremony, stumbling over the words of the second verse, the black branch with blood that kept dripping. It's a song I have been familiar with since it was first recorded, thanks to my father's passion for Dylan, Joan Baez, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem and the rest.The lyrics have meant different things at different times in my life and I associated them with the civil rights movement, the Cold War and nuclear threat during my teens. Listening to the lyrics again this week, images were conjured up that reflected the history of the last half century, images that didn't exist in popular consciousness when the song was written. The song looks to the past and to the future in its form and meaning in a remarkable way. It comments on world events, environmental concerns, politics, war, famine and greed in a way that is as relevant now as it was in 1962. That should be depressing, but somehow it isn't because it's the fate of a poet to speak to truth, to enlighten and to create awareness. From awareness comes the opportunity to make changes. One line leapt out for me : I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains. That line sums up this year for me. Each month has brought unexpected challenges. I've been negotiating my way through unfamiliar paths, uncertain if I'm heading in the right direction across those misty mountains. But as the landscape of the year reveals itself, as the sun breaks through the mist, I'm aware of a huge sense of achievement for myself and my loved ones. I salute the poet.