This morning (mourning) as I was waking up thinking about you, this song started playing in my mind...Reader: I emphasized in RED the words that speak to me now...
...As with all things we see and hear...we see them as WE are rather than as THEY are...
Box Of Rain
Lyrics By: Robert Hunter
Music By: Phil Lesh
Look out of any window Any morning, any evening, any day Maybe the sun is shining Birds are winging, no rain is falling from a heavy sky What do you want me to do To do for you to see you through? For this is all a dream we dreamed one afternoon long ago Walk out of any doorway Feel your way like the day before Maybe you'll find direction Around some corner where it's been waiting to meet you What do you want me to do To watch for you while you're sleeping? Then please don't be surprised when you find me dreaming too Look into any eyes You find by you; you can see clear to another day Maybe been seen before Through other eyes on other days while going home What do you want me to do To do for you to see you through? It's all a dream we dreamed one afternoon long ago Walk into splintered sunlight Inch your way through dead dreams to another land Maybe you're tired and broken Your tongue is twisted with words half spoken and thoughts unclear What do you want me to do To do for you, to see you through? A box of rain will ease the pain and love will see you through Just a box of rain, wind and water Believe it if you need it, if you don't just pass it on Sun and shower, wind and rain In and out the window like a moth before a flame as And it's just a box of rain, I don't know who put it there Believe it if you need it or leave it if you dare And it's just a box of rain, or a ribbon for your hair Such a long, long time to be gone and a short time to be there
Before you listen to the version included here...please read the backstory article below (first link) to see how amazingly appropriate this is for me and my family NOW as our sister Julie - my "Irish twin" (364 days younger) - is now in hospice in Charlotte, NC...and mostly sleeping, as the very caring staff is keeping her medically comfortable and managing her pain...as she prepares to "inch her way to another land..."
Plus, through these final months, weeks and days, a member of our family has been by her side...(see "By My Side" below)
As I just learned in writing this post, bassist Phil Lesh wrote the music to comfort his Dad who was dying of cancer. Longtime Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter then composed his always-appropriate words to express Phil's heart to his Dad...
The following article also includes a video of the band's performance of "Box of Rain", as well as a video of Phil talking about the song's origins...I've included separate links for both below the link to the Far Out article.
Earlier today, while the song played in the background, I started composing my eulogy to my sister...More to come...
Oh! Finding this song at this time proves once again what my friend Steve has always said,
"There's a Grateful Dead song for EVERY occasion..."
Three Generations...
l-r: Sister Cathy, wife Eileen, me, son John, Mom/Grandma (seated), sister Peggy, Julie (seated) and Merle Langs, John's piano teacher/mentor. Photo taken at one of Merle's students' recitals...
[from the article] In later years, the song was a favorite and the crowd would shout "Let Phil sing!" to hear the song
According to lyricist Hunter, Lesh "wanted a song to sing to his dying father and had composed a piece complete with every vocal nuance but the words. If ever a lyric 'wrote itself,' this did – as fast as the pen would pull." Lesh practiced the song driving to the nursing home where his father lay with terminal cancer.
And here's a video of the song accompanying a drive along a country road...
We're all walking each other home...
"Walk into splintered sunlight..."
By My Side
Liminal places...Thresholds...Doorways...
"...you can see clear to another day..."
Magic Kingdoms...1975
Three of my sisters (Julie, Mary & Cathy) flew to California, did some sightseeing and then rode back with me to New York in my VW Bus...where I reconnected with the girl I was destined to marry: Eileen. Best "I do" I ever made...
l-r: Julie, Cathy
l-r: Julie, Cathy
l-r: Julie, Cathy
l-r: Cathy, Mary
Sister...
9/26 is your birthday...