December 07, 2004
Sentimental Fool
This fall I was at my mom and dad's and a song came on her stereo. It's old, from the 80's or earlier, I've heard it many times but it made me stop and listen to the lyrics again. Sad and haunting yet promising, sometimes kind of sappy sure, but it's very timely for the state of the current world. I wish more people had the tolerance and patience that this guy did.
Read the Extended entry for the lyrics of which I speak and don't pre-judge the composer by what you already know of him. Maybe I'm getting sentimental in my old age but I feel pretty much the same way he did when he wrote it, the year I was born (or at least the year it was published).
So you speak to me of sadness
And the coming of the winter
Fear that is within you now
It seems to never end
And the dreams that have escaped you
And the hope that you’ve forgotten
You tell me that you need me now
You want to be my friend
And you wonder where we’re going
Where’s the rhyme and where’s the reason
And it’s you cannot accept
It is here we must begin
To seek the wisdom of the children
And the graceful way of flowers in the wind
For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Could clear a cloudy day
Like the music of the mountains
And the colours of the rainbow
They’re a promise of the future
And a blessing for today
Though the cities start to crumble
And the towers fall around us
The sun is slowly fading
And it’s colder than the sea
It is written from the desert
To the mountains they shall lead us
By the hand and by the heart
They will comfort you and me
In their innocence and trusting
They will teach us to be free
For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Could clear a cloudy day
And the song that I am singing
Is a prayer to non believers
Come and stand beside us
We can find a better way
"Rhymes and Reasons"
- John Denver
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