[Nas]

In honor of Robert Smith and Mary’s 35th anniversary today:

https://youtu.be/ks_qOI0lzho

I am listening with hope that at some point I will find an appropriately fitting lid for my very unique pot. 😉

[JohnnyBravo]

Nas' comment about teaching herself how to love in the "links to share" thread reminded me of this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgeY8s48txQ

[Nas]

I'd never heard that one, JB, but I really like the lyrics.

I haven't thought about this Poe song in forever, but it popped in my head and has been stuck there since a conversation I had with a very lonely, very talkative elderly man to whom I was delivering meals on wheels. I deliver to the same folks every week and chat with all of them and make sure everything looks okay. While I was at this man's home chatting with him, he asked me if I wouldn't mind helping him move some things from one room to another and one of the things I moved was a box of "my first wife's things." His first wife who, it turns out, he divorced about 40 years ago, which would have made him in somewhere in his 40s. Hasn't seen her since - sounds like he was basically a vanisher, and he mentioned his kids present tense as though they were still young school age children, as if they remain frozen in his mind at that age. He didn't say the word "affair." He did say, "I was selfish" and talked about his second wedding being just after his divorce and so he never lived alone until now. There were no family photos in his home that I could see, and he's now frail and alone.
 
He's kept a bit of her boxed up all these years, and I suspect it doesn't really mean much except that I've noticed sometimes people hoard memories and build stories around them that have all sorts of purposes that are known only to them. Whatever's in the box, it's for him and about him, not her. It's not touching and romantic like a movie would probably portray it. It's just an old man with a box.
I only deliver once a week, and not every week, but he's on my route and I'll see him again. Wonder if the whole story will unfold over time:

https://youtu.be/sXjO8stSQiE?si=39Tljuc-p2LP25fo

It makes sense that it should happen this way
That the sky should break, and the earth should shake
As if to say: Sure it all matters but in such an
unimportant way
As if to say:

Fly away, sweet bird of prey
Fly fly away
Nothing can stand in your way
Sweet bird, if you knew the words
I know you'd say: fly, fly away

It makes sense that it should hurt in this way
That my heart should break, and my hands should shake
As if to say: Sure it don't matter except in the most
important way
As if to say:

Fly away, sweet bird of prey
Fly fly away
I won't stand in your way
Sweet bird, if you knew the words
I know that you'd say: fly, fly away

It makes sense that it should feel just this way
That you slowly fade and yet still remain
As if to say: Everything matters in such an invisible way
As if to say: It's O.K.
Fly... away