At our home in South Carolina, any wind or rain storm would result in fallen tree branches scattered all over the yard. Periodically I would gather these up to burn (residential burning was legal in my town), and I would then take advantage of a couple hours quiet contemplation that a fire tends to facilitate. It was on a clear summer evening while tending a small fire that I wrote Linger.
I had been thinking about my family, and how much time I was spending away from them playing music. I will be forever grateful that music has literally put food on our table, but it comes at its own cost. As a certain famous 80's ballad acknowledges, "loving a music man ain't always what it's supposed to be," and I am sure that it is hard on my wife and kids at times. Though my work has meant that I will sometimes miss out on putting my kids to bed, or being present at the dinner table, it also makes these small moments all the more impactful. We all have moments in our lives that we wish we could stretch out longer than the minutes and seconds seem to allow, but there is poetry in life's impermanence.
lyrics
Another day of my choosing, one just like the one before
Each good life comes by necessary labor
But I’d do well to remember just what all that effort’s for
Life has moments that ought to be savored
One by one they come along, like the lyrics to a song
You’ve never heard, yet somehow seems familiar
They greet you like an old friend that you did not know you had
When they find you, they call you to linger
I long for you my darling, you are always on my mind
Though you know I’m predisposed to wander
But I ask myself a question, with an answer I’m head to find
Do we really need absence to grow fonder?
Sometimes I am called to roam, taken far from my home
But I’ll return, cross many a lonesome mile
And there I’ll find you waiting; I’ll hold you like I can’t let go
We’ll pray this moment will linger for a while
One by one they come along, like the lyrics to a song
That I don’t know, but always makes me smile
Moments that can warm you like a chair beside the fire
I think I’ll stop and linger for a while
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