How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, ’n’ how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, ’n’ how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ’n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ’n’ how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ’n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ’n’ how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ’n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ’n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ’n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ’n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
“Blowin' in the Wind” - Bob Dylan
Today someone’s eight year old
Is being mourned
And another with no future
Is somewhere being born
I think everyone should try on
A weighty crown of thorns
Count the tears in Earth’s raiment
Before making more
What to do?
What to do?
Stop countin’ the wrongs
Someone’s always doin’ you
Look into the mirror
See the hurt you caused, too
Twenty babies dead just North
Of me and nothin’ I can do
‘Cept write a song like a hymn
And send it out to you
There is no grand solution
That doesn’t take us all
There ain’t no perfection here
We all stumble
We all fall
But the blood that we shed
And tears we cause others to cry
Should be accidental at the least
Tryin’ to tame the wild beast inside
Baptize me at the well of forgiveness
That never goes dry
Make me see the least of me
In another man’s eye
We all gotta stop pretendin’
We got no hand in this
Can’t heal a hurtin’ world
With a Judas kiss
What to do?
I’m all in
What about you?
You say you don’t fit in
You feel like an other
Extend your hand
To the next man
And call him your brother
There’s a cure for these ills
If you got the will
What will you do?
I’m all in
What about you?
Hate is the foulest of
Four letter words
Get down on your knees
For those you have hurt
Change comes slow and hard
If you want it to
I guess it depends upon you
What to do?
I’m all in
What about you?
So what will you do, now
Now that you know?
Tell yourself the hard truths
And hate will let you go
How do I know this?
I been there, I know
I think it’s time for you
To let it go
That’s what you do
I’m all in
What about you?
Shout your love
From the mountain tops
Before they disappear
We ain’t been good stewards
Laid down waste the Earth
Can’t bear
We’re learnin’ hard lessons
Ain’t that good to hear?
Put ‘em in action
That’s what we could do
I’m all in
What about you?
What to do?
Try and live true.
What to do?
Help another through
What to do?
Thread the needle
Sew up someone’s wounds
Doin’ some good
Is all we can do
I’m all in
What about you?
“What About You?” – Joan Reale
It takes guts to follow great lyrics with a bad poem. I got guts. Bob Dylan wrote the classic, “Blowin’ In The Wind” in 1962. Fifty-one years ago, a half a century ago, and it still applies. So, how many roads? How many tears? How many deaths before we realize ALL of this is in OUR collective hands. … Ok. I got thrown off track: Someone just called my number; I answered it, and this man said, “Saddam?” Is this a good sign? I’m gonna take it as one.
Instead of screeching about all the world’s ills, I really need to get back to my commitment to find those things for which I can be grateful—a commitment I did not mean to break…I really upset myself with my last screed about violence against women and had to sleep. For two days. Yes, caring and cursing have their costs.
Now, back to my commitment…
Today, I am grateful for…
1. Bob Dylan writing “Blowin’ In The Wind” fifty years ago. I am grateful for beautiful songs.
2. Going shopping straight from work even though I had to pee in the worst way. I am grateful I do not need “Depends” yet.
3. That Boston
4. First responders, who run toward the things that make us run away. I am grateful for the EMTs, police, firefighters, doctors, nurses, volunteers who responded when some bastard, or bastards, who didn’t get therapy or enough attention from their parents decided to blow some people away. I am grateful for first responders.
5. My students, who, knowing I was having bad anxiety over tomorrow’s all-day visit by our new principal, took up my challenge that they shine tomorrow by teaching. They all did research and wrote lesson plans. They were beautiful. I am grateful for my students.
6. My anxiety, that has momentarily lifted. Tomorrow is another story. I hope to be grateful for calm tomorrow, as I am grateful for it today.
7. Maria, my BEAUTIFUL cousin, who believes my destiny is to be a real writer.
8. Emmie, my BEAUTIFUL daughter-doggie, who ALWAYS makes me feel better, my Beautiful Melissa, whose messages and posts lift my spirits and are the first things I check for when I wake up, and my Beautiful Nicole, who makes me feel like she lives across the street when she actually lives across the world, and whose messages are also the first things I check for when I wake up. I am grateful for Emmie, Melissa, and Nicole.
9. Having the guts to write a poem after putting in print Bob Dylan’s great lyrics.
10. That I got a phone call from a guy who thought I was “Saddam.” How many other people can say that? I am grateful for a wrong number.
More tomorrow…
No comments:
Post a Comment