She's coasting down the cobblestone on a bike freshly painted green. Flowers flopping out of the basket. Boots up for anything. A pair of reading glasses, wrapped around her black fur collar, dangling with the unlikely elegance of a necklace.
The woman is aging with her groove still in tact. This is my dream too. I just love having her as a model, a mirror, a muse.
At the time I took the photograph, I didn't expect to see my inner dream realized. All I was hoping for was a classic Dutch bike rider gliding down one of Amsterdam's classic bridges. I'd waited at the base of the bridge, waiting for car traffic to clear and a biker to show up.
The sculpture on the left isn't anything I noticed at the time. But once I did, I fell in love with the man with the wooly mustache named Multatuli. The name is Indonesian and fun to say (try).
I thought, maybe, like the lady on the bike, this man who appeared in the frame might also have something to teach me. I googled him. Turns out, Multatuli was a wit, a poet, and a visionary. Here's a quote that kind of says it all: There is only one evil, one crime, one sin: lack of heart.
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