Friday, March 25, 2011

Songbird



For you, there’ll be no more crying
For you, the sun will be shining
Because I feel that when I’m with you
It’s alright, I know it’s right
And the songbirds keep singing
Like they know the score
And I love you, I love you, I love you
Like never before

     --Haley Westenra, Songbird, (orig. Fleetwood Mac)



When he walked, people didn’t see the shadows.

They didn’t see the years, the volumes of thought, the observations, or the conundrums. They didn’t see the burns or disappointments or four tidy walls. Who knows what they saw.

But he powered his legs with the years, volumes, observations, conundrums, burns, disappointments, and four tidy walls.

* * *

She liked when he was around and liked it less when he wasn’t. Of course, she also liked to keep her emotions nicely at heel.

Once, she caught herself not listening when he was talking to her. She was imagining…something. And she quickly tucked that scary something back inside the cabinetry inside her head.

* * *

She liked the way he walked, regardless of what the others saw.

He was schooled in the construction of cabinetry.

That night, maybe they both sensed the barriers would be detonated.

8 comments:

Tabitha Bird said...

"When he walked, people didn’t see the shadows.

They didn’t see the years, the volumes of thought, the observations, or the conundrums. They didn’t see the burns or disappointments or four tidy walls. Who knows what they saw."

Oh gosh I love that. This is so true of life. We see what we see. It's never what is underneath. The shadows.

Love your work.

the walking man said...

You can't detonate without a permit. Better to deconstruct and add support walls and make the room into a hexagon.

Lee said...

Detonate or deconstruct - either way their will be a communion ~.

Anonymous said...

Tabitha, very true, indeed. I always thought it was better to see it, but maybe it isn't.

Walking Man, I wouldn't mind issuing a permit.

Lee, an amazing place to be, in the end.

Anonymous said...

I really really like this. It hits very close to home. I keep coming back to reread it and think of how he walks. Of course, I do like to keep my emotions nicely at heel. So the cabinets can stay...for now. :-)

Anonymous said...

A kindred spirit, then. That's a big reason why I express these things. In case someone else feels like, hey, I can relate to that.

Anonymous said...

I am the anonymous commenter from two months ago, just coming back to say that we did indeed detonate the barriers. Damn near burnt the house down, too. ;-)

I showed him this post and some of your others. Like me, he really enjoys it, for the imagery and mystery and layers and depths of meaning. Thank you so much for sharing your writing!

Anonymous said...

Anon, many thanks for very kind words! Are you familiar with the concepts of genotype and phenotype? A genetic mutation in a person is a genotype. However, many genetic mutations exists that cause no symptoms or can cause a whole array of different symptoms depending on the individual. The phenotype is the expression of a mutation. The illness itself, so to speak. I think many of our emotions are that way. We're very familiar with how they express, but the reasons and true fuel behind them are hidden, because the interpretations we make are themselves tainted by the emotional story we tell ourselves. (Kind of like seeing smoke in a forest and anxiously believing there's a forest fire when really there's a housing development back there and someone is having a BBQ.) Anyway, I think nearly burning the house down is caused by finally understanding some of the underlying reasons for things. At first, the problem seems so much worse, but in reality, burning through it allows a more stable foundation to be built.