November 4-Track Song 2: The Stranger & The Dove

Art by Billis Helg

Writing:

This song ended up being a brief depiction of the trials of loss and sickness, and the unexpected reward. Some of our hardest stretched in life come when the ones that we love become lost to us, either in mental deterioration, physical illness, or death. We have to carry on believing that the love is still there, unaltered, when the other person themselves seems so altered, a stranger in the home. In this song, the narrator gets an unexpected reminder and affirmation of that love, there and brighter than ever for the trial that has been undergone.

Recording:

Track 1: acoustic guitar
2: electric guitar
3: tambourine
4: vocal

Lyrics:

The day didn’t come and the oaks stayed bare
And a distant grinding hung low in the air
Through the kitchen window I dimly could see
Every door was shut, curtains drawn cross the street

I wheeled out your chair and I fixed what we had
Leftover potatoes, a thin spread of jam
Toasted the bread and I cut it in two
Came to the table and sat there with you

Your pain-ridden face I observed and a laugh
Fell out of my mouth like the breaking of glass
Can there be joy at the end of a life?
Can there be love in a stranger’s eyes?

“Why did you laugh?” said a sharp, still voice
“In the season of living there’s life to be borne
All that is needed has come to pass
And from this day on I will live in your laugh

“A stranger has come into your home
And you took care of him like one of your own
Put clothes on his back, gave him bread to eat
And when you did it to him, you did it to me”

I was alone and the oaks were bare
And the voice of a dove sung low through the air
My heart burned within as I broke off a piece
Of the still-warm bread and I started to eat