United States, (contemporary)
On Buying A New Harley
- To buy, or not to buy, that is the question.
- Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to keep your old Harley,
- Or to buy a new and thus end the heart-ache
- And the thousand natural shocks that wishing
- For a new Twin Cam is heir to?
- Tis’ a consummation devoutly to be wish’d.
- To buy, to break in; to break in, perchance to break down;
- Ay, there’s the rub;
- For in that 1000 mile break in period what dreams may come,
- When we have shuffled off our proven steed,
- Must give us pause: there’s the respect
- That makes calamity of so long break-in period;
- For who would bear the looks and scorn of other drivers while you ride 55,
- The truck drivers wrong, the Yamaha rider’s contumely,
- The pangs of dispriz’d schedules, the law’s delay,
- The insolence of Gold Wingers, and the spurns
- That patient merit of the unworthy Suzukis’ takes,
- When he himself might his quietus make
- With an older Harley? but, who would fardels bear,
- To grunt and sweat pushing an older bike,
- But that the dread of not having 20/20 foresight,
- The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
- No biker returns, — puzzles the will,
- And makes us rather bear those maintenence problems we have,
- Than fly to others we know not of?
- Thus conscience doth make cowards of us all;
- And thus the native hue of resolution that all HOG riders possess
- Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of timid thought;
- And bike trips of great pith and moment,
- With this regard, their planning turn awry,
- And lose the name of action.
© Ash Morris
About the Poet
Ash Morris, member of the Southeast Tulsa Chapter of Route 66 Harley-Davidson, a resource for motorcycle enthusiasts. [DES-6/03]