Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Fields of Gray

After something like the shootings in Colorado, I think we all tend to hold on to our kids a little closer. Sometimes I think they're a balm for all the world's cares. So many people have said so much, but in the end we haven't really figured out anything. I embrace the idea of randomness and chaos as if they are the only true things in the universe. They encompass both serendipity and madmen, for better or worse. The madmen have little appreciation for this.

I have nothing profound to say about madmen or death, I just know we've discussed both far too much for my liking, the older the boys get. Bruce Hornsby wrote this song for his two boys - aged 8 and 10, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. I can't explain anything, and I certainly am not articulate or thoughtful enough to explain madmen. All I can do is be there and hold my kid's hands in the face of such chaos.



Fields of Gray - Bruce Hornsby

When the night lies so still, before I go to sleep 
I come by, I come by, just to look at you 
In the dim light I say, that in my own small way 
I will try, I will try, to help you through 

There'll be blue skies falling, there'll be sad scenes and bad dreams 
In a world so uncertain, through the clouds it's hard to see 
I will grab you and lift you, as you hold on tight and sway 
We'll go walking, across the fields of gray [ Lyrics from: 

There's a place I can go, when the world gets me down 
When nothing, when nothing, goes quite right it seems
As I look there I know, fortune smiles on me so 
But who knows, no one knows, about tomorrow 

There'll be blue skies falling, there'll be sad scenes and bad dreams 
In a world so uncertain, through the clouds it's hard to see 
I will grab you and lift you, as you hold on tight and sway 
We'll go walking, across the fields of gray 

When I was younger I saw things in black and white 
Now all I see is a sad, hazy gray Sometimes I see a narrow flash of light 
Sometimes I look and you show me the way 

No matter what else happens, or what the future may be 
In a world so uncertain, through the clouds it's hard to see 
I will grab you and lift you, calm your fears when you're afraid 
We'll go walking, across the fields of gray