dear existentialists: as long as there are stories born of the lips brave enough to tell them, my life has meaning.
ms. l'engle's truth-telling words, framed in green, hang above my bed, keeping watch as i sleep.
mercy and reconciliation can come to us through story.
this much, i believe.
we saw patty griffin tonight. ryman auditorium. section 7, row z, seats four and five. i forgot to wear a coat. i forgot to eat the snickers bar i brought.
patty with her red dress on.
she sang her songs, tuned her guitars, tinkered beautifully with her piano.
the existentialists say that we all have to die alone. what they forgot to add is that we all have to experience the beauty of real, raw music alone. we can sit in seats four and five, respectively, sigh to each other as we applaud, but our moments are our own. the beauty is ours alone to reckon with.
and so we were all alone with patty, and she brought out emmylou harris, and buddy & julie miller to keep us company. they all sang mary.
jesus says mother i couldn't stay another day longer
he flies right by and leaves a kiss upon her face
while the angels are singing their praises
in a blaze of glory
mary stays behind and
starts cleaning up the place
bring on the ambience of guitar and piano, upright bass and lingering vibrato, ethereal angels and legends and ghosts.
what happens to all this beauty?
does it disappear the moment we pull our cars into garages? silent. dark. door closes.
i want to bottle tonight like tears.
Nothing is ever lost. All that beauty remains with you, within.
a.
You are the bottle...
'Mary' is far and away one of my favourite songs. Ever. By anyone.
You bottled enough to spill out so those of us who weren't there could actually taste it!
What a great show -- Patty, Buddy, Julie and Emmylou -- I imagine this is just Nashville magic and not a tour that would stop in Ohio.
sheila, it was ryman magic, no more, no less.
unfortunately, i don't think it travels.
I can smell the pews, and feel the dark.
keep remembering
j x
Posted by: bandude at January 31, 2003 06:09 PM
i sometimes think that the beauty of a thing lies in its transcience; 'it is 'is', it is 'now''; the significance of knowing now-ness.or something.
all the existentialists need is a good tickle.
but they have a point.
I was there, too, Annie. It makes me feel SO good to know that YOU were there. I wanted everyone to be there, but especially people who KNOW that it is magic and amazing. I can still feel the tightness in my throat when her voice filled the air.