I was driving home yesterday evening. It was 5:45, and the day was just giving up to night. I didn't have my cell phone, so my typical afternoon gripping gossip, gratification or gripe session wasn't an option. All I had was the sunset (in front of me, as I drive westward toward home), and the radio. Now, normally, I listen only to 90's soft rock, peppered with very occasion alternate genres. But, yesterday, flipping through, I heard a soft guitar. I knew it was a country station, but sometimes I tolerate country, so I left it to play. It turned out to be a song that people love, from the pop-star of country (circa 2000), Garth Brooks. (Right around the time he took on the persona Chris Gaines.) Normally, I eschew pop music of any kind (originating after '95), but again, I left this song to play. And, for the first time, I felt like I understood why people love this song (even if they don't really even understand).
Looking back
on the memory of
the dance we shared
beneath the stars above
for a moment
all the world was right
how could I have known
that you'd ever say goodbye
And now
I'm glad I didn't know
the way it all would end
the way it all would go
our lives
are better left to chance
I could have missed the pain
but I'd of had to miss
the dance
Holding you
I held everything
for a moment
wasn't I the king
but if I'd only known
how the king would fall
hey who's to say
you know I might have changed it all
And now
I'm glad I didn't know
the way it all would end
the way it all would go
our lives
are better left to chance
I could have missed the pain
but I'd of had to miss
the dance
Yes my life
is better left to chance
I could have missed the pain
but I'd of had to miss
the dance.
I always looking for ways to commemorate Sophie, and the others we've lost. Ways not to be sad, but to celebrate their short lives that so wonderfully scarred our collective existence. And, this is just one feeling among more than I can count. This song captures the worth of all things, even if they end in ways all but tragic. It captured, for that moment for me in the car, the feeling that each bit of our lives has its own beauty and resilience. For those of us who have lost, we can look back and know that without the pain of loving and losing, we would never have the known the strength and true grace of that very experience of giving love its moment, or "the dance".
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5 comments:
As punk rawk as I can be, this is one of those songs that I've loved from the first time I heard it. I can't listen to it without sobbing.
I can definately see how it would apply to Sophie and everyone who's lost someone they love. It's better to know the joy for a minute than never know it at all. I'm glad you got to share a "dance" with Sophie.
Anyone interested in hearing the song (bc I think the melody is just as emotional as they lyrics) can find it here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=fT23U6R0ees
Cat--you have such a wonderful way of capturing a moment, finding both sweetness and sorrow, and putting words around that moment so that even when it is lost the next moment, it never truly disappears. Sophie is like that, like a held breath in our memories and our hearts, a rosebud, a butterfly, a snowflake.
Thank you for posting this, I have never heard this song before as I am not a country music fan.
My family has a very tough week ahead but this song is so right- the pain is worth it because of the time we had with Drew.
Thanks Lil'C.
Oh! Love, love, love this song.
I think everyone, in some way or other, can relate to it. I totally see how you feel it is especially fitting for you, Bill, and Sophie.
I'm sure you wouldn't give up your dance with Sophie for anything.
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