Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Rain Knows My Name


Glorious rain. It fell from the sky on our dreary crisp grass, our brown trees, our gasping flowers. Rain. Beautiful wet rain.

Having a bit of rain meant stepping back, staying inside a little, taking a break from the usual evening social routine my daughter and I enter after dinner. Instead we stayed inside to play a game, read the same book (I had to get a step or two ahead of her), and just breathe. For the first time in ages, I sang to her our special goodnight song when I tucked her in.

Rain slows us down sometimes. And it cleanses the mind. Today as the first drops fell, it was as though it washed away the old fears, old habits, old chains that melted away.

Today rain cleared the way, and I finally recognized for the first time, that I really could do anything. I don't know what's been stopping me.

It was a different kind of peaceful deep knowledge, like a seed had finally burst open. Very quietly. Underground. A sudden departure from the manufactured constraints I've been using to keep myself down, and an escape from the mental constraints others have been using to keep me down.

I don't know how I was liberated. All I know is that now, it's suddenly just clear--clear the way you feel after you've been sick and you wake up that first day you feel well again. It's time to decide what I really want to do. And then, I get to do it.
Simple. So simple. Like rain.

from Gillian Welch, Soul Journey, 2003
(lyrics and chords courtesy of Roughstock.com)
C] Oh my mother was just a girl, [G7] seven[C]teen
Oh my mother was just a girl, seven[G7]teen
And my [C] dad was passin' [C7] through doing [F] things a man will [C] do
Oh my mother was just a [G7] girl, seven[C]teen [C]
It's a wonder that I'm in this [G7] world at [C] all
It's a wonder that I'm in this world at [G7] all
And I [C] have a life to[C7]claim though I[F]really don't know my[C]name
It's a wonder that I'm in this [G7] world at [C] all [C]
Well I had a good mother and dad [G7] just the [C] same
Well I had a good mother and dad just the [G7] same
And they [C] took me to their [C7] breast and they [F] surely stood the [C] test
Yes, I had a good mother and dad [G7] just the [C] same [C]
Ain't one soul in the whole world [G7] knows my [C] name
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my [G7] name
Just a [C] other baby [C7] born to a [F] girl lost and [C] lorn
Ain't one soul in the whole world [G7] knows my [C] name [C]
Now and then there's a lonesome thought [G7] in my [C] mind
Now and then there's a lonesome thought in my [G7] mind
And on the[C]crowded street I [C7]see a strangers[F]face that looks like[C] me
Now and then there's a lonesome thought [G7] in my [C] mind
Ain't one soul in the whole world [G7] knows my [C] name
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my [G7] name
But I'll [C] see it by and by [C7] cause it's [F] written up in the [C] sky
Ain't one soul in the whole world [G7] knows my [C] name.

5 Comments:

At July 17, 2007 10:55 PM, Blogger Blueberry said...

It's wonderful to be able to think with a clear head, and good analogy about the rain. But it's just as hard to clear out the cobwebs in your brain as it is to make it rain.

I made a rhyme. heh heh. Not a poet though. Don't I know it!

 
At July 18, 2007 6:44 AM, Blogger Shameless Agitator said...

it's always startling when i realize the only jail cell is the one i've created for myself.

good for you, mando.

much love,
shameless

 
At July 18, 2007 7:16 AM, Blogger Mando Mama said...

Hello women,
Catchy, blueberry! Dig, I really needed the rain in my brain to make things plain.

We could go on all day like this, lol!

Shameless, thanks. Nothing could be more true. It's taken a few people to say things like that to me and stepping back a bit to see just how good I am at what I do in order for me to unlock the cell. Whew! Feels good!

Love to you both,
MM

 
At July 19, 2007 12:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice, even expansive! The uncarved block, right? Water, the supple, it sinks to the lowest places, easily gives way, wears away stone, and merges into one leaving no trace of the drop. One of the most powerful, what life can exist without it? Water, a profound teacher.

love the rain

 
At July 21, 2007 7:32 AM, Blogger Mando Mama said...

Hey wind and rain,
Love the rain and this cool air it brings!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home