When I missed Laura I used to go on an Anger Ride. Jump on my Harley and roar on the I-way for a while.

The Don used to call it a rage ride. He loved doing it in the middle of the night, when it was just him and the truckers and the road.

Best bike for an anger ride was my 2002 Deuce because it only had 5 gears and at 90 mph it was loud. A few hours of that would fix me right up. The V-twin version of electro-shock therapy.

Over the years I mellowed.

So tonight, as I lie awake in a hotel room in a small town outside Stockholm, instead of trying to find a way to rent a Harley for a rage-on through Sweden, I’m listening to music.

I can imagine Laura saying “No! Rent the Harley! Go rent the Harley!”

One of the great romantic songs of the pop era is Unchained Melody. Its lyrics were written by Hy Zaret and put to music by Alex North. Sung by the Righteous Brothers, they’re spellbinding:

Turns out several artists, including Roy Orbison and U2 have tried to record it. Sorry. Great musicians that they were, they all failed compared to the Righteous Brothers.

We don’t express ourselves like we used to. We retreat from romance as if it were a rattler on the trail. Maybe we’re afraid of longing and being rejected. That’s not surprising, since social media never leaves our Left shoulder, a worse censor than the most ardent prude Hollywood ever had to endure.

That’s too bad.

Give me eloquence. Give me beauty. Lend me expressions that warm my heart and make me take a long, slow breath or two.