Postcard from a Song



Dar Williams singing "When I Was a Boy"

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I heard this yesterday on the Mountain's Sunday Brunch. I'd forgotten about this song. With my daughter turning 8 this weekend, maybe I'm just a little more emotional, but I'm on the edge of tears as I hear it.

It's one of those times where I'm feeling much more mom than poet, much more person in the neighborhood than writer. School is approaching, summer raised the heat then turned it down, so autumn can come down its spiral staircase. And while I love fall more than any other season, I'm not sure I'm ready to see summer go, but as you know, there are no choices with seasons, with time, with things leaving.

And so I try not to look at this as what will be lost, but maybe that's what I keep hearing in Dar's song and in this culture little girls grow up way to soon, so I keep this image of my daughter flying her new Venom plane in the meadow by our house and her climbing the rope ladder into her treehouse and hope she can stay a boy just a little longer.

Comments

  1. I love Dar Williams! This song is so great. I had sort of forgotten to listen to Dar. A guy I liked when I used to go to folk festivals (before kids) had a huge crush on Dar. He liked me because I was silly and blond, too.

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